


Enough is Enough

by KatlaDovahkiin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 53,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29060169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatlaDovahkiin/pseuds/KatlaDovahkiin
Summary: Sometimes all you need is a plan B. Hermione had worked it all out even if she did hope it wouldn't be needed. When the Ministry decided to set Harry up for a trial that might cast him out of the magic world forever Hermione, Harry and Ron act instead of trusting the adults around them. They have a plan B after all.
Kudos: 18





	1. Bye-bye Britain

Thick clouds blocked out the stars and the moon. Mist hung around the streetlights, hugging them gently. In the shadows, a dark figure moved along a street of identical houses perfectly cared for by their owners. Grey eyes swept over the lawns and windows of the houses on the opposite side of the street. No one seemed to be awake. Quick steps brought them forward. _‘Now where is that guard?’_ If their information had been correct there should be a witch or wizard around. A smirk spread over full lips. It wasn’t Moody. The guard was a young woman. _‘Good.’_ It would make things so much easier without the old paranoid auror around. His ability to see through walls had been a slight concern. The figure snuck in behind the houses. One of the windows leading into the living room of number 4 Privet Drive was opened carefully. Silently, they moved inside and up the stairs. Nimble fingers reached out and touched the locks adorning one of the bedroom doors. Grey eyes narrowed. _‘That's just wrong.’_

Carefully the door was opened, and the dark figure stepped into the room. In a scabby looking bed lay a young man. Harry James Potter, thought by many to be the saviour of the wizarding world for taking out the Dark Lord, Voldemort, when he was just an infant. His thin chest rose and fell slowly. Messy black hair covered his head and fell down on the lumpy pillow his head rested on. 

A black-clad hand reached out to cover his mouth. It would be disastrous if the guard outside heard the boy scream. His eyes flew open, and the person next to him had to hold him down. 

Even in the dark, it was easy to see that Harry's eyes were bright green as they scanned the person holding him furiously. They moved down. “The spectral otter has sent me,” a soft voice whispered in the young man’s ear. He stopped struggling. He sat up slowly as they let go of him. He reached out and grabbed his glasses. “What do we do?” he asked. The password had been set before the summer. It meant things had changed.

“Leave here.” The dark-clad figure looked outside. “Pack only the things that are important to you. We can’t bring your entire trunk with us.” There was a pause. “It isn’t like you are going to need it.”

Harry nodded slowly. He got up and located his school bag. He made sure he had his father's invisibility cloak, the photo album containing the only pictures he had of his parents, the marauders’ map, and an enchanted knife he’d been given by his godfather. Then his eyes landed on his broom. It had also been a gift. He really didn’t want to leave it. 

“We can bring that,” the hidden person said. “She said it meant a lot to you so I figured out a way to bring it along.”

Harry smiled, of course, Hermione had figured something out. He shouldn’t have doubted her. He grabbed the broom. “I’m done,” he said. 

“Good, follow me.”

Harry moved as quietly as he could as he followed his guide. They moved from backyard to backyard, silently. Harry breathed in slowly. He knew this was the beginning of a new chapter. In the back of his head, he could hear a voice that sounded very much like Dumbledore berating him for leaving his Aunt and Uncle’s house. He didn’t care. The Ministry had made it clear they wanted to break his wand. 

Green eyes widened as he reached his guide. A leather jacket was handed over to him. “You should wear that. Give me your things.” He nodded, handed his bag and broom over, and put the jacket on. Then he was given a helmet. He put that on as well. He took a deep breath before he climbed on to the motorcycle. His broom had been mounted to one of the saddlebags. His pack had probably been stowed away in the very same bag. He felt himself get pulled forward by the wrist. “Hold on to me.” It was a command, not a request. Once the motorcycle started moving, Harry could understand why he had been told to hold on. They picked up speed fast. He was sure they were driving way faster than the speed limit. He didn’t feel like questioning it, though. Truth be told he didn’t know what he’d just gotten himself into only that he trusted the person who had started it. 

For the past four years, he had attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yes, he, Harry James Potter, was a wizard. At Hogwarts, he had made his first true friends. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. It had been great. Being away from the Dursleys, having friends, learning magic… but not everything had been a piece of cake. Every year since he started Hogwarts something dangerous had happened. His first year it had been Quirrell. The man had let a troll into the school on Halloween and by the end of the year, he had gone after the Philosopher’s Stone that the Headmaster, Dumbledore, had hidden in the school as a favour to a friend. Harry and his friends had gone down past a three-headed dog, through some devil’s snare, and more to catch up to the man. It had ended with Harry learning that Voldemort, the man who had killed his parents and left him an orphan, was still alive… or as alive as a man could be without a body. He had stood his ground and kept the Dark Lord from the stone almost losing his life in the process. 

His second year hadn’t been much better with a giant Basilisk moving through the school petrifying children born to non-magical parents. Once again it had been Voldemort responsible, and once again Harry had faced him alone. He’d almost died that time as well. He’d been pretty certain he would die as the Basilisk’s venom was moving through his veins. He had once again been saved just at the brink of death. His first year it had been Dumbledore. This time it was the Headmaster’s familiar, the phoenix, Fawkes. 

His third year wouldn’t have been so dangerous if it hadn’t been for the Dementors. He shuddered. He did not like Dementors. They made you remember your very worst memories which for him was the death of his parents. That year had been by far the best, though. He had met one of his father’s best friends. His godfather Sirius Black. He liked to think that Sirius would agree with what he was doing. 

His fourth year was by far the worst. Not only had he been entered, against the original rules, into a competition he didn’t want to partake in, but it had also been the year that marked Voldemort’s return. Not that the people of magical Britain believed him since the Minister was determined to undermine him. He could easily list the many times he’d been in danger of dying that year. When he had to steal a golden egg from a dragon mother's nest of eggs; As he tried to save Ron and Gabrielle Delacour from the bottom of the Black Lake; While inside the maze that made up the last task, and in the graveyard after Voldemort’s return. It still gave him nightmares. 

In an attempt to forget, Harry looked at the landscape as they drove by. They weren’t moving as fast anymore. He assumed that they were actually keeping to traffic rules now. He wondered who the person driving him away from the Dursley’s was. Hermione had never said. At least he couldn’t remember her saying anything about who would help them. She had brought it up though. An alternative to Hogwarts…

Hermione, Harry, and Ron had been sitting in the Room of Requirements. Harry had left the Hospital Wing just a few hours earlier. Neither boy knew why they were there. They only knew it had to be important since Hermione had wanted them to go to the one place in the school where no one could overhear them. The girl in question was sitting opposite of them playing with her fingers nervously and biting her lip. 

Once she looked up at the other two, her gaze was determined, however. She took a deep breath. “I think it is time we consider leaving Hogwarts,” she said. “I have been working on an alternative for a while now.”

Both boys had blinked in surprise. They knew how much Hermione wanted to learn new things. To hear from her that they should leave school wasn’t something they’d expected. 

“Are you sure Hermione?” Harry asked.

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before answering, “No.” She looked both the boys in the eyes. “But I think we should have it as an alternative.” She looked down at her hands. “We don’t know how things are going to proceed from now on. I think we should be ready for anything.”

Harry and Ron nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes sense,” Ron said. He scratched his head. “But you know mom will never be okay with it,” he said.

Hermione grimaced. “I know,” she said. “We might have to run away.”

Ron leaned back. “Well, if you have an alternative I say we go for it if we need to,” he said. 

Hermione nodded slowly. She was glad that they seemed to agree with her. Her head tilted slightly as she met Harry’s eyes.

“So leaving is our plan B if something goes haywire?” Harry said. It sounded good to him. He’d been through hell and back enough times already.

Hermione nodded. “It is perfectly safe,” she said. “I have it all set up already.”

They had trusted her. 

Harry returned to the present. He trusted Hermione so when the person who came to pick him up had mentioned Hermione's Patronus he had gone along with it. There were only three people who knew Hermione could cast a Patronus after all. Himself, Ron and Hermione. He had taught the two of them in secret. Just like they had learned many spells that were far more complicated than what the professors were teaching them. The only reason they were hiding what they were learning was to keep the knowledge away from anyone who could possibly tell Voldemort at any point. It had been hard without teachers in some ways. Some things weren’t meant to be self-taught. It hadn’t stopped them. They had wanted to learn so they had. 

Harry yawned. They had always known that Voldemort would return. They had wanted to be as prepared as they could get. His eyes scanned the sky. Somewhere beyond the clouds, the sun was rising slowly. They were driving down a dirt road now. Green fields surrounded them. Then the bike turned on to an even smaller road. They passed through an arch of green leaves, and a house became visible to Harry. He moved off the bike as it stopped and stretched. It had been a long trip. He was handed his broom and bag. 

“Let’s go inside.” 

It was a cosy little cottage. A fire burned in the hearth. A fluffy green carpet spread out over the floor. Two comfortable looking chairs faced the flames.

“We won’t be staying here for long,” Harry’s mysterious saviour said. “It is just a middle landing. We’ll most likely be leaving the country. You will be safer that way.”

Harry’s eyes widened as the person unwrapped the face and headcloth that was keeping them hidden. Long curly brown hair fell down along her back. Because now that he could see her it was obvious that it was a woman. She turned around, and he had to hold in a gasp. She looked so much like Hermione it was almost scary. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the woman said. 

Harry swallowed thickly. “No… well,” he paused. “You look a lot like a friend of mine,” he said finally.

The woman let out a merry laugh. The mirth in her eyes was contagious. “Well there is a simple explanation for that,” she said once she had stopped laughing. “I’m Juliet Marie Granger,” she introduced herself. “Hermione is my little sister.”

Harry blushed embarrassed. Then a question crossed his mind. Why hadn’t Hermione told them she had an older sister? It wasn’t like they would judge her based on that. He was about to ask Juliet when a phone rang. 

Juliet pulled a mobile phone out of a pocket and answered. A smile graced her lips as she said, “Yo lil’ sis.” she paused for a moment. “Yeah, I have him here. Looks like he’s about to fall over from exhaustion, but I’m sure he can pull himself together long enough for you to talk to him.” She held the phone out to Harry. He reached out and accepted it. “Hey Hermione,” he said. 

He could hear a relieved sigh before Hermione started talking. “I’m glad Juliet could get to you without any problems. Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Harry said. “A bit tired but fine.”

“Okay, Ron and I are … well, they have a spell so I can’t tell you where, but it used to be Sirius’ parents’ house. He is here too. He hates it…” She paused. “Actually I was considering inviting him along.”

Harry blinked surprised. He knew Hermione didn’t like Sirius that much herself. Or rather she disliked his carefree nature and his tendency to turn everything into a joke. “I think he would appreciate that,” he said. He really would. Especially if Sirius hated being where he was now. He had a feeling it would be much better for the runaway convict to leave the country.

“Yeah, I know. I’m going to have to talk to big sis about that though. My parents are going to demand that I go back home and then they will get me over so sis can pick me up. We’ve spoken to them already.” There was a pause. “They weren’t happy when I told them about all the dangerous stuff we’ve been through. So they support the decision we’ve made to leave. Ron will be the most difficult one to get out of here. His parents would never agree to let him go. Sis and I think the only way for him to join us is to run away. She won’t kidnap him since that’s a felony. In your case, they won’t know if you ran away or was taken so she didn’t mind picking you up. If we can get Sirius in on this then Ron will run away, and he will go looking for him. They will meet one of Juliet’s associates, and from there they will make it to us.” It was clear that Hermione was going to say something else, but then she stopped. “I’m going to have to hang up. I’ll talk to you soon.” 

Harry lowered the phone. 

“Abrupt ending huh?” Juliet said. 

Harry nodded. 

“Yeah, she has to do that when someone else shows up. She doesn’t want anyone else to know,” Juliet said. 

Green eyes met grey. “Why hasn’t she told us she has a sister?” he asked. 

Juliet shrugged. “You would have to ask her. I have a hunch, but I could be wrong. All I can tell you is that it isn’t because she’s embarrassed by me,” she said. She looked down at her watch. “You should probably get some shut-eye. We won’t be staying here for long.”

A yawn stopped Harry from saying anything, and he decided that the older version of Hermione was right. He was really tired. She motioned him into an empty bedroom. Despite everything that had happened that morning he fell asleep almost immediately. 

Halfway across the country, Hermione was having breakfast with the Weasleys. She was glad that the first step of their plan had gone off without a hitch. She knew it was a bit early to celebrate, though. So many things could still go wrong. Right now she needed to get Ron alone so they could go over the next part of the plan. It wasn’t the easiest thing to manage since Mrs Weasley had decided that they were supposed to help clean the house. 

Thankfully, they got a break when Mad-eye Moody showed up. Hermione and Ron made it to an empty room and threw up several spells that would prevent anyone from listening in. A thing only possible because of the heavy wards around the house. The Ministry couldn't detect underage magic through the heavy magic around the building. “So Harry is safe,” Hermione said. “It’s your turn next.”

Ron nodded. “I think I’m gonna go with the same line as last year. You know Harry is getting loads of attention, and I get jealous so I run away. I think that should work. At least as long as I don’t get too close to say Dumbledore or Snape,” he said. Most people had been convinced the year before when he had pretended to hate Harry. It had all been a dud to see if he could do it in case they ever needed it in the future for any reason. It had all been an elaborate ruse to see just how little people thought of him. It had hurt at times, but he’d also been proud that he could pull it off.

Hermione nodded. “Sounds good enough,” she paused. “My parents will pull me out. Probably last minute. I was considering something though…”

Ron raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” he said.

“Well, why don’t we invite Sirius along?” Hermione said. 

Ron considered the proposition for a moment. “He could travel with me,” he said finally. He pulled a hand through his hair. “Harry would like that, and it would probably be better for Sirius too.”

“We might be able to clear his name as well,” Hermione said. “I’d have to speak to my contacts about that, though.”

“That would be a miracle if they could do it,” Ron said. 

Hermione nodded. She placed a hand on the door next to them. “We should probably get back out there,” she said.

Ron took a deep breath. “Okay I’m ready,” he said. He had a feeling he was going to have to start acting like a dick pretty soon. They made it back downstairs just in time to hear Mrs Weasley call for them. There were quite a lot of people gathered in the kitchen when they got there. 

It was silent for a moment that seemed like forever as everyone’s stares settled on the two teens. “Have the two of you heard anything from Harry?” 

Hermione turned towards Dumbledore. “No,” she said. “Should we have?” she made sure to sound seriously concerned. 

Ron just shook his head dumbly. He wasn’t quite ready to speak yet. It took a little longer than that for him to prepare.

The Headmaster smiled grandfatherly. “No, no, of course not,” he said. “I was just wondering.”

The kids were dismissed and sent back to clean. It would take until dinner the next day before they actually got to hear that Harry had disappeared. By then Hermione knew that her sister had taken Harry out of the country. As decided, Ron got really grumpy. He didn’t outright say anything about it, but he had taken to imitating Kreacher, Sirius’ house elf’s behaviour, meaning he was walking around muttering. Mostly he was doing that so only his siblings and Hermione could hear him. He was trying to establish himself as a douchebag there first. 

Three days after they had learnt that Harry was missing Hermione finally got a chance to speak to Sirius. He was sitting up in the master bedroom with Buckbeak. Dumbledore had completely forbidden him from going out to look for Harry. It had pissed Sirius off and there had been a screaming match down in the kitchen. The only reason Sirius hadn’t run off on his own yet was because of the last thing Dumbledore had told him. “What do you think Harry will do if you go out there and get yourself killed?”

Sirius raised an eyebrow as Hermione cast several charms meant to keep conversations private. “I need to talk to you,” she said. She sat down on the edge of the king-size bed. She steadied herself. “I know where Harry is,” she said. 

Sirius looked up at the girl. Several things passed through his head at once. He finally decided that he would rather have answers than get angry with her and asked, “How?”

“Well, it was sort of my idea,” Hermione said. “I have been thinking since we’ve, and especially Harry has, been in so much danger during our years at Hogwarts we could really use somewhere else to learn. I figured out a way to make that happen without getting into another school. It was supposed to be a plan B in case something happened, but since Harry got the letter from the Ministry saying they were going to break his wand we decided to put the plan in motion. So, Harry is already out of the country. Ron is going to run away soon and be picked up.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Sirius asked. 

“Because we decided to invite you to come along,” Hermione said. “It would give you and Harry a chance to properly get to know each other. And you won't have to live in a house you hate.”

A small glimmer of hope appeared in Sirius’ eyes. 

“If you want to come along you should run after Ron,” Hermione said. “Stay as Padfoot and my contacts will get you out with him.”

“Me being a convict won’t be a problem?” Sirius asked. 

Hermione shook her head. “No,” she said. “My contacts know you are innocent.”

Then Sirius smirked. “So Ronald acting like a moron is actually just to make him running away seem more legit?” he said. 

“Yeah,” Hermione sighed. “People are really stupid sometimes. They are willing to believe the worst of Ron so easily.”

Sirius nodded. “He’s not the only one,” he said. He looked up at Buckbeak. “What should I do with this one?” he asked. 

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m sure Headmaster Dumbledore will figure something out,” she said. “Hopefully, they can bring him back to Hogwarts.”

Sirius nodded. “I’ll run after Ron,” he said. “What am I looking for in the contact?” 

Hermione shrugged. “I’m not sure who they will send, but they have a password for Ron. He’ll be able to tell, and they should recognise you by Snuffles, not Padfoot.”

Sirius nodded slowly. “You guys are the only ones I’ve used that name with so it should be fine,” he said. He was surprised Hermione had planned for the teens to run away, but he didn’t mind at all. He knew what they had been through too, and he was just a bit impressed. 

“That was the idea,” Hermione said. “I should probably get back downstairs. Mrs Weasley has us working on the drawing-room now.”

Sirius shook his head. “I don’t get why she tries,” he said. “This place isn’t going to get better.”

Hermione shrugged. “It works in Ron’s favour so I’m not complaining.”

Sirius snorted. At least something good came out of Molly’s obsession with cleaning his house.

…

“What was Harry thinking?” Mrs Weasley said worriedly one evening at dinner. It had become clear that Voldemort hadn’t captured Harry. The Dark Lord hadn’t even known Harry had been missing before Severus brought it up. Unfortunately, that meant they were not the only ones looking for Harry now. 

Ron snorted. “Who cares. He ran off. He obviously doesn’t want anything to do with us,” he muttered.

“Don’t you dare say that Ronald,” Mrs Weasley said. 

Ron rolled his eyes. “If he wanted to be here then he wouldn’t have left,” he said grumpily. “Meanwhile we have to slave away in HIS godfather’s house. He’s probably lying on some beach somewhere.”

Hermione had to steel herself whenever Ron went off like that since he was actually right. According to Juliet, they would be pretty near a beach. Harry had left because he wanted to. Both of those statements were true. Thankfully, Hermione was pretty good at acting like she was getting angry at, or irritated with Ron.

“You don’t know that,” Hermione said shortly.

“Yeah right,” Ron scoffed. 

“Ronald please what is with you. You have been like this all week,” Mrs Weasley said. 

“Yeah, and all anyone will talk about is Harry. Harry this, Harry that. It’s not like he’s anything special.”

“If you can’t keep your mouth shut about my godson then get out of my house,” Sirius growled. 

“Maybe I will,” Ron said. “It seems like everyone here cares more about a dude that ran away than the people who are here!” He got up and stormed out of the kitchen. 

Mrs Weasley rose to follow him but her husband held her back. “Give him a bit of space dear,” Arthur said. “He’ll come around.”

 _‘Yes,’_ Hermione thought. That was the first step cleared. Now Ron just had to make it out of the house. Of course, he wasn’t going to use the front door since that would be stupid. 

Ron had gone straight up to his room and grabbed an already packed bag. He headed over to the window and opened it. He was really glad that Hermione had learned that they could use magic around the house without being detected. It made his escape so much easier. He even closed the window after himself. He pulled a hoodie out of the bag and put it on with the hood up so his red hair wouldn’t give him away right off the bat. He started walking almost aimlessly since he’d been told that would make him look way less out of place than if he was running. 

By the time the residents of number 12 Grimmauld Place figured out he was gone he was pretty deep in London. 

Hermione sat in the kitchen with everyone else. They had searched the entire house looking for Ron. His mother was currently blaming Sirius for what had happened. Things were working out. 

Finally tired of Molly’s behaviour, Sirius growled. “Fine, I’ll find your precious Ronnikins for you.” He was gone before anyone had a chance to say anything. Hermione watched the mess that was going on in the kitchen for a while before she headed upstairs. She sent off the confirmation letter to her parents. It was just to get them in gear to start getting her out. With any luck, both Sirius and Ron would be on their way out of the country before the day was over. She knew it could be dangerous for Ron to be out there on his own, but they had gone over what he was supposed to do if an Order member did find him. Also, Hermione was pretty sure her sister had made sure he would be followed pretty early on. Hermione had after all managed to tell her sister what street Sirius’ house was on in a roundabout way. 

Thankfully, it didn’t take Sirius that long to find Ron. He had lived as a dog long enough to trust his senses. He had followed Ron’s scent. “Hey boy,” Ron said. He was sitting by a house wall. He could tell that it was about to start raining. He was glad Sirius had found him before that. “Are you all on your own too?” he asked the big black dog. He grimaced as a drop of water hit his face. “Come on, we should try to find some kind of shelter.” He walked with the big black dog next to him. The rain soaked through his clothes quickly. He was cold and wet. He was also starting to wonder if Hermione’s contact was actually going to show up. They had passed several men and women, but all of them seemed too wrapped up in their own business to want to have anything to do with them. 

Eventually, Ron sat down next to the wall of another house. The roof reached out far enough that the cobblestones were at least somewhat dry still. The dog sat down next to him. Grey eyes moved over the people that walked passed. No one seemed interested in a lonely boy in shabby clothes and his dog.

It was impossible to tell how long they had been sitting there when a man came wobbling up to them. He was wearing some pretty expensive-looking clothes, and from the look of it, he was drunk out of his mind. “Hey,” he said as he reached the teen sitting by the wall. “You wouldn’ happ...pen to know where I can find the Stag and Otter would ya? It’s suppose’ to be aroun’d ‘ere somewhere.” 

Ron looked up slowly. “Yeah, I know where it is,” he said. He made sure his excitement didn’t show. He stood up slowly.

The drunken rich-boy smiled. “Great,” he said then he stumbled and Ron had to catch him. 

“Why don’t I help you?” Ron said. 

“Great idea,” the man said. His eyes widened as he saw the dog. “Oh, nice doggy,” he slurred. “Just like Snuffles.”

“Sure,” Ron said. “Come on boy.” He told the dog and then he helped the drunk man stumble down the street. They reached a trafficked road. Since Ron had no idea where they needed to go he just kept walking. It seemed like the right thing to do as a car slowed down next to them. 

The driver poked her head out. “Oh, for heaven’s sake Jonathan can’t you stay sober one night in your life,” she said. She met Ron’s eyes. “Can you stuff him into the back seat please?”

“Sure,” Ron said. He helped the drunk guy into the car, and he sobered up instantaneously. “Come on in,” he said before he climbed into the front seat. Ron moved into the car and buckled up while Padfoot followed him in and lay down. The car door closed and the car took off. 

“Nice job,” Jonathan said. If Jonathan now really was his name. 

“Sorry it took so long,” the woman said. “We had to lead some Order cronies away from you before we could pick you up. They were getting too close for comfort.” She studied the young man in the rearview mirror. 

“It’s okay,” Ron said with a shrug. “I was just worried you weren’t going to show.”

“And have Juliet angry at us,” Jonathan said with a visible shudder. “Just a piece of advice don’t ever get Juliet angry with you.”

“Okay,” Ron said. He was confused since he had no idea who the guy was talking about.

“Either way,” the woman said. “I’m Sonja and he’s Jonathan. “We’ll be your escort the entire way. Normally we wouldn’t do it that way, but since we’re dealing with magical people we might as well. We’ll travel non-magically. They normally aren’t smart enough to know anything about that at least here in Britain.”

“We have a flight waiting for us so we’ll take off as soon as we get there,” Jonathan said. 

A phone rang and Jonathan opened the glove compartment and fished it out. “Yo boss,” he said. “Yeah, we have the dogs. We’re an hour away from the plane... We’re a bit off schedule because of some roosters… No, it wasn’t a problem… Yeah, I’m pretty sure they won’t be tracking us… Sure… Yeah, see you when we get there… Bye.”

Ron reached out and placed a hand on top of Padfoot’s head. He was nervous. Sure Hermione had said that these people could be trusted. But Hermione was not the one sitting in a car with two of them. Briefly, he wondered how Hermione knew these people. Her parents were supposed to be dentists after all. He highly doubted that dentists knew people who could get their own private plane and whisk three teens out of the country in a matter of days. He didn’t want to ask the people he was sitting with any questions, though, in case they wouldn’t like that. He would have to wait until Hermione showed up. 

They moved directly from the car to a plane. Ron wasn’t sure about the plane. He’d never flown in one before. He wondered how non-magicals could make their huge metal birds fly. Once more he put his faith in Hermione. She had flown before and if she, who hated flying on a broom, could do it then so could he. It felt strange at first, but as the pressure lifted and he looked outside a smile spread over his lips. 

“You might as well try to get some sleep,” Jonathan said. He moved his seat back so he was almost laying down and promptly fell asleep himself.

Ron wasn’t sure he could sleep. He wasn’t sure he felt safe enough in the big metal contraption. He did move his seat back though. 

Sonja just smiled and shook her head. It seemed like she would be the only one who stayed awake. She ran a hand through her shoulder-long blue hair. She didn’t mind. She knew how obnoxious Jonathan could become if he didn’t sleep through a trip like this. It was good to see that the young redhead was falling asleep too. He could probably do with some sleep. She had dried his clothes before he sat down on the plane. They would have to make sure he could change clothes at some point. It couldn’t be nice to wear clothes that had been dried on your body for an extended period of time. Juliet had probably taken that into account. A change of clothes would have been necessary no matter the weather. 

They would have to switch planes twice and then they would be going by boat the last bit. The other planes would be commercial ones so hopefully, they could sneak Mr Black on as himself rather than as a dog. It would just complicate things otherwise. 

She knew Juliet had figured it all out and everything would be where they needed it to be. 

… 

Just like Sonja had predicted. There was another one of their group present when they landed. He was waiting for them. “I’ll drive you to the hotel,” he said. “If you’ll please follow me.” Dogs were allowed thankfully. Of course, it was most likely Juliet in charge so it made sense. She would have made sure they could bring a dog. The travelling party finally had a chance to rest properly. They wouldn’t be leaving again until two days later. 

Ron looked at the clothes he’d been given. When they had exited the car, the driver had taken two bags out of the trunk and handed them over. Jonathan had easily picked cleaned clothes out for himself, Ron and Sirius. Sirius had to be Padfoot when they left the Hotel again, but he would need to change on the way to the plane since being a dog on commercial flights was a messy business. 

It had been a nervous two days. Their guides didn’t speak much to them, and neither Ron nor Sirius knew what was going on or where they were going. 

They got on board the next plane without any problems thankfully. The flight wasn’t as long as the previous one, but they had to switch three times instead of two as they had first hoped. It was late at night by the time they reached the boat that would take them the rest of the way. 

...

“Time to wake up,” Sonja said as she poked the gangly redhead they were escorting.

“We’re there?” Ron asked as his brain caught up with him. 

“Yes, we are,” Sonja said. She led the young man outside. “We’re still just outside the wards,” she said. They’ll come out and pick us up. See.”

Ron’s eyes widened as a boat appeared out of nowhere. He, Sonja, Sirius and Jonathan joined the tall muscular man that rowed the boat. 

“Didn’t know you’d be here, dad,” Jonathan said. 

The large man shrugged. “We’re joining up to make sure we have everything we need,” he said. He looked down at the teen sitting next to his son. “So this is another one of the students,” he said.

“Yepp,” Jonathan said. 

“If he's anything like the one Juliet has up in the house already you are going to have your hands full, but it will be worth it.” He looked down at Ron. “I am Argo,” he said. 

“I’m Ron,” Ron said. He wasn't sure what else to say to a walking mountain. He wasn’t sure the man even needed magic. He could probably deal with irritating wizards anyway. Ron didn’t think he had any giant’s blood in him though. He was pretty sure the man was just big-boned, unlike Hagrid. He was nowhere as tall as Hagrid. Still, he was pretty intimidating. 

As they passed through the wards a sizable mansion appeared. It didn’t look overly fancy like you would expect a rich man’s mansion to look. Rather it looked like it had been built big because it was needed. 

“We’ll bring you to your room,” Sonja said. “It should be next to your friend's room. Don’t worry about how long you sleep. Not yet at least. Juliet will let you know when you need to start getting up at a specific time. I think she’s started training your friend already. Not in magic though. We want all of you here before we start that.”

The room Ron was taken to was spacious by his standards. “I guess you’ll take Sirius to his own room huh,” he said as Padfoot brushed up against his leg. 

“Yes we will,” Sonja said. “Come on you big mutt.” She continued down the corridor as Ron walked into his room. He really needed more sleep. All the travelling they had done had really messed him up. He noticed a door that couldn’t lead back out into the corridor and walked over to it. It was an on-suite bathroom. He was in heaven. That was just perfect. He decided that he might as well clean up before he fell into bed. 

On the other side of the world, Hermione had received a letter from her parents. She walked into the kitchen downstairs. “My parents want me to come back home,” she said. “They don’t like that kids have gone missing here.”

“Oh, don’t worry dear we’ll speak to your parents,” Mrs Weasley said. 

“I don’t think that will work,” Hermione said. She sounded sad. “They seem pretty determined to find me another school.”

“Well that’s just silly,” Mrs Weasley said. Her husband placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from saying something she might regret. 

Hermione acted down because of her parents, but it was just that, an act. It was all planned. Her parents had planned a trip for the three of them and at the end of it one of Juliet’s colleagues would pick her up. 

On the day, it didn’t matter how much the Weasley parents tried to convince Mr and Mrs Granger that Hermione really should go back to Hogwarts. The Grangers’ had made their minds up. Their daughter was not going back to that horrid place. Of course, they had thought that as soon as they actually learned just what Hermione and her friends had been through in school the four years they had already been there. 

Back at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, people were meeting up once more. Harry, Ron and Hermione had all disappeared one way or another. Three students of Hogwarts were just gone. Still, no one suspected that the disappearance of Ron and Harry were connected. And they all knew that Hermione wouldn’t go back because of her parents so that couldn’t possibly be connected. The strange thing was that when Molly had gone home to check their family clock. Ron’s hand had been pointing to Traveling for several days until it just recently had moved to school. But he wasn’t at Hogwarts. Which made both Mrs and Mr Weasley very confused. Somehow Ron had ended up in another school. They weren’t sure what to think about that. So far, however, no letter they had sent had received a response. At least his hand on the clock hadn’t said lost.

Arthur truly wished he understood what was going on. Had his son planned to run away? What if Harry and Ron were actually in the same place? He shook his head. If they were lucky, their letters would reach them eventually. 

It was a bright and sunny morning. A light breeze moved in from the sea. Juliet was down on the beach with Harry. They were taking their morning run. Two days after they had arrived she had forced him out of bed and told him to run for as long as he could without collapsing. She was of the opinion that wizards were way too lazy for their own good. They didn’t care about their bodies, and it was one of their biggest weaknesses. Physical strength was important too. She and the rest of her team knew that. The alpha team knew that. British witches and wizards… not so much. It wasn’t necessarily the same in other countries though. She had been to schools in Asia where it was obligatory to train your body. She had seen the way they worked with their magic, and it was just amazing. 

They had just settled down for breakfast when a beady-eyed Sirius Black made his way down to join them. “Good morning Mr Black,” Juliet said cheerfully. 

Sirius grimaced. “Please don’t,” he said. “Just call me Sirius. I’d preferably never have anyone use my last name ever.” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and blinked. And blinked again. “Is it just me or do you look an awful lot like a more grown-up Hermione,” he said. 

Juliet laughed. “Yes well, she is my little sister,” she said as she poured some yoghurt over the fruit chunks she had already filled her bowl with. “I hope your trip went well,” she said as she leaned back in her chair. 

“Yes, it was a bit confusing, but I can’t complain. We had some pretty good guides,” Sirius said. “If a little quiet.”

“Jonathan and Sonja are very reliable. Not to say the others aren’t, but it depends a lot on what needs to be done,” Juliet said. “They are two of the teachers that Harry, Hermione and Ron will have.” She ate a spoonful of fruit. “They were most likely quiet because it wasn’t really safe to speak while you were out there. They won’t be so bad now.”

“Really,” Sirius said somewhat surprised. “They are pretty young to be teaching aren’t they?”

Juliet chuckled. “Well that might be true, but all of us are Masters in our own fields,” she said. 

“So what do you teach then? Did you go to another magical school other than Hogwarts?” Sirius asked.

“I have never attended a magical school. Like several others here I’m capable of elemental magic rather than wizarding magic,” Juliet said. “I’m going to teach them martial arts. It is far too overlooked in the western magical world. I have been trained in Asia for many years. Though I am far from being a master my master believes that I’m far enough along to teach for the sake of taking care of one's body. It takes a long time and a lot of training to be considered a master of any martial art. Simply my age shows that I’m too young to be considered a master. Especially since I started much later than the rest of my age group.” She placed her bowl down on the table. “Frankly my job is to make sure these three get in shape. And I’m probably going to force you along… for your own good.”

“Aww, you wouldn’t do that to a poor old man now would you,” Sirius said while he tried his best to give her puppy eyes. 

Juliet snorted. “You’re nowhere near old enough to pull that one,” she said. “I mean what can you be… thirty-five?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said. 

“Then you aren’t considered old around here. We are well aware of just how old wizards can get when they have the power to support it,” Juliet said. She tilted her head to the side as two more people came out of the house to join them on the terrace. “Good morning,” she said. 

“Morning.”

“Morning,” Jonathan said before he hid a yawn. 

Sonja sat down next to Juliet. “I take it you’ve already dragged the poor boy over the beach,” she said.

“Yes of course,” Juliet said. “He’s doing much better.” She smiled at Harry. “The first day he was not happy with me.”

“Nope,” Harry said. He stretched in his seat. “Give it a few days though, and it feels really good.” 

“Once I have them all up to an acceptable level, I’ll start taking them into the forest. And once they have started learning from the rest of you. We start implementing those skills during the physical training,” Juliet said. She stood up. “Just remember that we’re not training the next generation. These three are not necessarily the next step in our organisation.”

“Yeah we know,” Jonathan said. He turned to the other people at the table. “I don’t know about you, but I’m planning on staying in the water for most of today.” 

Sonja chuckled. “You lazy bum,” she teased him. 

Harry turned to his godfather while the light banter continued between the two long time friends on the other side of the table. “I’m glad you chose to come along,” he said. 

Sirius shrugged. “Sounded like more fun than being locked up,” he said. “I never liked that house, and it wasn’t like I was of much help. Maybe here I can help them teach you guys. I could probably learn quite a lot myself as well.” He looked over to where Juliet had disappeared between the trees. “Apparently I have already been recruited to partake in the physical training.”

“That is probably the most we can teach you, Sirius,” Sonja said. “The rest is more likely to be just refreshing your memory.”

“Possibly,” Sirius said. “Though I’m sure you guys know stuff I don’t.”

Sonja shrugged. “We’ve attended Hogwarts too,” she said. “It just didn’t give us jobs so we had to find other ways to make a living. Thankfully our parents started this group. They are part of the Alpha squad.” She looked out over the water. “My parents are both non-magical. Jonathan’s are magical but his mother is more like Juliet and his father is a werewolf so people don’t like him much either.”

“Wait,” Sirius said. “Your father was the man last night… Argo,” he said and Jonathan nodded in response. “He must make one hell of a werewolf. He didn’t seem anywhere near as run down as …” Sirius fell silent.

“You know a werewolf don’t you Sirius,” Sonja said. 

“My only living friend,” Sirius said. He ran a hand through his hair. “I really should let him know I’m fine. Dumbledore is probably going to send him back to the werewolf clans.”

“I’ll let father know. He’s going as well,” Jonathan said. “Do you have a name I can give him?”

“Remus Lupin,” Sirius said. “Tell him Bambi is safe and his dogfather is with him.”

Jonathan nodded slowly. “I’ll let father know,” he said. 

“Bambi?” Harry said somewhat put off. 

“Yeah, it is an inside joke. Remus would be the only one who would get it these days,” Sirius said. “I really hope I haven’t done something stupid now.” 

“I don’t think you have. I highly doubt that Argo will hurt Remus,” Harry said. 

“Oh, definitely not,” Sonja said. “With a bit of luck, he’ll bring Remus into his pack. Argo is one of the strongest alphas out there. There isn’t an alpha that willingly would oppose him.”

“He doesn’t tell his pack to join Dumbledore though right?” Sirius said. 

“No, since Dumbledore did nothing to help them last time,” Sonja said. “He does try to keep them from joining Voldemort. He really doesn’t see that as a good idea. Voldemort will just harm the werewolves.”

Harry nodded. “I can definitely see that,” he said. “If they join Voldemort then people will only fear werewolves even more.” 

“That’s what Argo tries to make them realise,” Sonja said. She stood up. “If you’ll excuse me I have things to do,” she said. “I’ll see you later.” She walked back into the house. She needed to give her briefing. She had been away for quite a while before Juliet had called her in for this mission.

...

It was hours later when Ron finally made it out to join the rest of them. He actually showed up just in time for lunch. Because of the heat, the group living there preferred cold cut food in the middle of the day. It was too warm for hot food to taste good. That, however, didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of food. As they ate, conversations flowed around. It gave Harry, Ron and Sirius the opportunity to learn more about their hosts. 

They had all just finished eating as a snow-white bird landed on the back of one of the chairs. “Hedwig,” Harry exclaimed. “You really are the smartest owl in the world. He sat down on a chair next to her. “I’m betting you’d like something to eat and drink, though.” He sounded concerned.

Juliet stood up. “I’ll take her to the owlery. She’ll find everything she could possibly need there. We don’t have many owls, but we take good care of the ones we have. She held out an arm for Hedwig to land on. “Why don’t you come with me girl and I’ll show you where you can rest,” she said. Hedwig flew over to her and the two walked off.

Slowly, most of the house members had gone back to their own business. It left Ron and Harry alone out on the terrace. To begin with, Harry filled Ron in. Then they’d started talking about their actual teachers. There was, of course, Juliet who would teach martial arts and survival if Harry had understood her correctly. There was Jonathan who would teach them Herbology, Potions and Healing. Then there was Sonja who would teach both defensive and offensive magic. 

“They just won’t call it dark magic,” Harry said. “To them, that is stupid since several of the spells can be used for things that are in no way dark.”

“I guess I can see their point. Though I wouldn’t try to convince some other people I know,” Ron said. “Most of my brothers would agree I guess. I mean Fred and George would in a heartbeat, but I think that Bill and Charlie would too. Labelling spells dark just because they could potentially cause harm seems a little dumb. If that’s how it works, then there are plenty of other spells that should be considered dark.”

“Yeah, I think that’s their point too,” Harry said. He ran a hand through his hair. “Apart from that, I have met Melonni who is a Curse Breaker. I did ask her about Bill and she knows of him, but they have never worked together.”

“Ron has met Nate as well.”

Both teens looked up at Hermione’s sister. “He was the one who met you after the first flight,” she said.

Ron searched through his memory. “Oh, yeah, I remember,” he said. 

“He will teach you Charms and Transfiguration,” Juliet said. “Possibly with some help from Melonni on the Charms. They are good at different parts so they will probably work together. The last one is Pauline. She isn’t here since she’s the one I sent to pick Hermione up. She’ll be teaching Arithmancy with Melonni, Ancient Runes and Warding. “We’re not expecting you to become Masters in all subjects, but we’ll give you enough ground to stand on in all of them for you to make an educated decision on what you actually want to focus on. We’ll also let you know if we feel you can just as well drop a subject to focus on other more beneficial subjects. We won’t just give up though. If you feel, despite our recommendations, that you want to keep going then you are fully within your rights to do so. We will not, however, take on any of you as apprentices. If you want masteries then we can recommend you to other Masters, but we won't be handling that. Mostly because we would like to get to know you well enough that we can be allowed to be biased about you. We don’t just want to be your teachers. We want to be your friends too.”

“What have you done with Sirius by the way?” Harry asked. He hadn’t seen his godfather since lunch. 

“I think that the Alpha team asked him for as much information as he could give them,” Juliet said. “Their mission right now is damage control surrounding Voldemort. They are also supposed to make sure that he doesn’t gain followers of any kind. It is, of course, impossible to completely stop that from happening, but they are doing their best.”

Harry nodded. He liked the fact that Juliet was willing to share information and told her as much. It made a big difference from back in Britain where he was pretty sure that all he would get to hear was that he was too young. 

“Well I know you are fifteen and Hermione is turning sixteen soon which still makes you children in some people’s eyes,” Juliet said as she sat down by the table. “I don’t quite agree with keeping you in the dark just because of that. Hermione has told me what you guys have been through. I know what you have done already. I also know what that could lead to in the future. So, I would rather you are able to make a properly educated decision rather than be forced to work with only a fraction of the information. We’re not going to freely share the information we gather,” she stated. “But if you ask us a question we will answer to the best of our ability. There may be times when we can’t tell you. If that happens I do hope we can give you a better reason than you being too young.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Ron said.

Both boys sat there deep in thought for a long while before Ron looked back up at Juliet. “Who do you guys work for?” he asked. “I mean Sonja and Jonathan have both been through Hogwarts, but they couldn’t get any jobs in the magical world afterwards. So you don’t work for the British Ministry. Nor do you work for the ICW since I don’t think Dumbledore knows anything about you guys. He would have tried recruiting you in that case. But you can’t be working for another magical government just like that either. Not if you guys are still British citizens.”

Juliet smiled. Now she knew what her sister had meant. Ron wasn’t daft. He could seem like there was only air between his ears sometimes, but he wasn't dumb. She had spoken to both Jonathan and Sonja, and neither had given the teen shining reviews. Sure they hadn’t said he was stupid either. They weren’t that quick to judge. “We work for the UN,” she said. “The United Nations which is roughly the non-magical equivalent of the ICW. We are a part of their magical division. Our main job is to protect the non-magical world from magical threats.”

“A non-magical equivalent of the ICW has a magical branch?” Ron asked, surprised. 

Juliet chuckled. “Yes, the non-magical world isn’t as unaware of the magical world as British witches and wizards like to think. There is only a selected few that are privy to magical information of course. It isn’t something that just everyone knows about,” she said. “There are even branches that deal with keeping track of exactly who the Magical government Obliviates. If it becomes necessary for their continued health victims are brought in, the memory charm is lifted, and they are sworn to secrecy. That way they can still remember but can’t speak of it. Sometimes that is better for them mentally.”

“I wonder what the Ministry would say if they were to learn that,” Harry said, smirking.

“Flip,” Ron said. “The pure-bloods would go nuts.” 

“As far as we are concerned they are better off not knowing, for now at least,” Juliet said. 

“I’d have to agree,” Harry said. 

“Yeah me too,” Ron said. 

…

Two days later was the first day that Juliet dragged Ron along for their morning run. To say he was unhappy by the time they were done for the morning would be an understatement. The morning run wasn’t the only training that they had with Juliet. They also had yoga four times a week. Eventually, some of those sessions would turn into martial arts lessons instead. 

Hermione arrived a few days later accompanied by a short red-haired woman. She had barely had a chance to sit down before Ron and Harry asked her why she hadn’t told them about her older sister. 

“Well,” Hermione said. She looked down at her hands. “I guess it is because I didn’t really want to have to answer questions about her,” she said. “You see I tried to look up elemental magic in the Library at Hogwarts, but there wasn’t a single book in there about it. I also tried to talk to my Arithmancy teacher about it… the only answer I got was that they didn’t exist. It wasn’t true I knew that but…” She sighed. “I know that you guys wouldn’t have judged her, but I don’t know about the rest of Hogwarts. It was bad enough being a know-it-all. I didn’t want to be called a liar or crazy or something as well.” 

Harry placed a hand on Hermione’s shoulder. “It’s not like we’re angry or anything like that,” he said. “We were just a bit surprised that’s all. I mean the two of you look pretty similar. A part of me was convinced it was you using an age potion the first time I saw her.”

The trio chuckled at that. 

It felt good to be back together again. They spent most of the day just hanging out. They hadn’t properly had a chance to do that in a long time. It was nice to just be teens on a beach with no worries for a while. Messing around in the sand and dumping buckets of water on each other. 

That evening Sonja asked them if they felt ready to be tested the next day. All of the teachers wanted to test them so they would know what they needed to teach them. Harry and Ron allowed Hermione to decide since she had arrived last. They were both rested enough to go right ahead. 

“Sure we can start. The sooner the better,” Hermione said. “I haven’t flown in weeks. We didn’t use planes to get down here.”

“Good,” Sonja said. “We will test you individually. We will most likely teach you that way as well. Juliet will teach you how to work together. We are going to nurture your individual skills, and we are pretty certain that you will all do better if you don’t know how well the other two are doing. You can, of course, talk to each other as much as you like. We are not going to forbid you to talk. Teamwork is important.”

“What Sonja is trying to tell you is that we will most likely custom tailor each schedule so none of you will do the same things. You are all at different levels. Once we have tested you we will be able to tell where you stand. The first thing we are going to try to do is to make sure you all get just about level… or as level, as we can get you. Without forcing you to work on the same things constantly. After that, we’ll make sure you know what you need to clear your OWLs unless we haven’t managed with that already. If we have or after we have we’ll bring you up to NEWT level. Then it all depends a little on what your plans are. You obviously don’t have to decide that yet,” Jonathan said. “For now just stay calm. We will not judge you on your performance in the coming days. We just need to know where to start.”

Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded. They understood. It was quite an interesting concept. It would also be very different from what they were used to. 

"Now don't worry about that for tonight and continue to have fun," Juliet said. 

The three friends did just that. 


	2. Teaching the Trio

_Please, Ron, come home. Your mother is beside herself._

_We miss you, and we’re sorry you felt like we cared_

_more about Harry than you. We don’t. Obviously, we_

_care about Harry, but not any more than any of our children._

_You know your mother sees Harry as a part of the family._

_Just please Ron come home._

_Love, your worried father_

Ron looked down at the letter. He wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t going back home obviously, but what should he do about the letter? He was sitting outside on the terrace. He had finished with his Potions test just a while ago. He knew it hadn’t gone that well. Potions wasn’t one of his best subjects. He would still do his best, but it wasn’t something he ever thought he would use after school. Though he wanted to be able to recognise both potions and poisons if he could learn that. It was always useful being able to successfully identify different concoctions. 

“Is something bothering you?”

Ron looked up. It was Melonni the team’s curse-breaker. “I got a letter from home,” he said. “They want me to come back.”

“Hmm,” Melonni sat down next to him. “I suggest you write a response. I know it won’t stop them from trying to convince you to come home, but at least it will let them know you are alright,” she said. “Mail they send you will end up in our hub. We empty that every week, normally. When we empty it, we can also send any mail you wish to send.”

“Thanks,” Ron said. He looked down at the letter. “I’ll think about it,” he said. He paused for a moment. Then he asked, “What happens to Howlers?” he asked. 

Melonni grimaced. “You have one of those parents do you…” she said. “Don’t worry. Howlers are destroyed on the spot. They never make it back to base.”

“That’s nice to know,” Ron said. His eyes returned to the letter in his hands. 

“Whatever you decide to do, make sure it is what you want to do,” Melonni said before she stood and headed back inside. 

Ron wasn’t sure how long he sat out there on the terrace with his father’s letter in his hands. Eventually, he rose from his position. He needed some paper so he could write. They didn’t use parchment here. He could understand why. Pencils were way easier to erase. The lines on the paper also made it easier to write. He was pretty certain he wouldn’t enjoy going back to parchment and quills. He found what he was looking for and brought a stack of paper and a pencil with him outside. He stared down at the blank paper. What was he supposed to write? 

When Harry and Hermione finally found their friend hours later he was surrounded by crumpled pages of paper. 

“What’s going on?” Hermione asked.

Ron looked up from the desk he sat by. “I’m writing father,” he said. “They brought in a letter from him earlier today.”

“Oh, Okay,” Hermione said. 

Ron went back to the paper in front of him. He wrote another line or two down before he handed it over to Hermione. “What do you think?” he asked. 

The bushy-haired brunette looked down at the letter. “Dear Dad,” she read. “I’m sorry you’re worried, but I had to leave. Voldemort is back, and we need to know how to fight. Hogwarts won’t teach us what we need to know so we went elsewhere. Our teachers will make sure that we’re safe. Please don’t worry about us. Yeah, I know I keep writing ‘we’ and ‘us’. Hermione and Harry are here with me. I’m not alone. Even Sirius is here. We’ll come back when we’re ready. I don’t know how long that will be. Until then, I'll try to write every month. At least then you’ll know we’re still alive.” Hermione stopped reading. 

“Too much?” Ron asked. 

Hermione chewed on her lips for a moment. “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “They are your parents. They can’t find you here; the wards are too strong, and the way the mail is handled will just lead them to the States as far as I know. The fewer lies you tell your parents the better. At least then they can’t accuse you of lying when we return.”

“I would have to agree with my sister on that,” Juliet said from the door. “Dinner's ready,” she informed them. “If the letter is finished make sure to place it in the basket on the shelf next to the front door. It won’t be taken along on the next run otherwise.”

“Sure,” Ron said. He grabbed an envelope, wrote his father’s name, and their address on the front and pushed his letter in. He dropped it off before he headed out to join everyone else. It was impossible to tell how many they were going to be at dinner time from one day to another. Sometimes there was no one from the Alpha squad there and even members of Juliet’s Beta squad were missing, and sometimes everyone was there. Though, Ron wasn’t sure they had actually met everyone since members of the two teams spoke of people they had never met sometimes. 

...

“So how are they actually doing?” Juliet asked her fellow teammates once they had finished testing the three teens. It had taken a couple of days, but it would be well worth it. 

“Well,” Sonja said. “They are all fairly good at both defensive and offensive magic though Harry has a natural affinity to both that the other two lack. Not to say that they can’t learn. Harry will just naturally learn faster.”

“As far as Potions go Hermione is way above the other two,” Jonathan said. “Though I have a sinking suspicion that the boys are worse than her because of bad teaching. Harry does seem to understand what he’s supposed to do on some level at least. I’m not sure about Ron. All of them should be able to take their NEWTs though.” he paused to look down at his notes. “It is a similar story in Herbology though Harry and Hermione are more equal there. Harry is better at handling plants and Hermione is better at identifying them. I’d say that Harry is used to working with plants.”

Juliet grimaced. “Unfortunately he is,” she said signalling to the others that he didn't know out of his own free will. 

“They don’t know any Healing and will all start on the same level though I believe that I’ll focus on the other two subjects for at least six months, to begin with,” Jonathan finished. 

Juliet nodded before she turned to the next person. 

“They are in line with what I would expect students who have gone four years in school to know,” Nate said. “I believe that Ron could do better than he is. Something is holding him back. I also believe that apart from Hermione I should fully go through how and why both magics work the way they do. I think that both boys could benefit from understanding the how's and why's.”

“I agree in Charms,” Melonni said. “And I’m pretty sure Ron’s problem is his confidence. He’s the youngest son in a line of brothers with only a sister younger than him. I understand what his problem is.” She looked down at Nate. “We have spoken and we believe that it would be better if I took care of Ron in Charms and in Arithmancy.”

“Yes absolutely,” Pauline said. She looked down at her notes. “Neither Harry nor Ron has studied my subjects previously unlike Hermione so I have to start from scratch. With Ron, we have to teach him basic math as well and that is one of the reasons Melonni will be taking him. I’ll have more than enough to do teaching both boys Runes as well as teaching Harry Arithmancy. I think that they can learn without any bigger problems. All they need is time and patience. Just like Jonathan with Healing, I would prefer keeping Warding off the schedule for now. They need a proper base before we can even attempt to teach them Warding.”

“Well that sounds like we can build their schedules,” Juliet said. “They all start with me in the morning and end with me in the evening.” Slowly three separate time tables were created. Some classes would appear more often than others depending on just how good the teens were in them. They would revise the schedules in six months or so to adapt to what they had learned in that time. In simple terms, it meant that both Ron and Hermione had more classes with Sonja than Harry while both Ron and Harry would have more Runes and Arithmancy lessons. 

They had done their best to make sure the three students would have just as much to do. None of them wanted anyone to feel mistreated. 

Ron walked into the potion lab the following day. Just the room in itself was a huge change from the potion classroom at Hogwarts. The classroom at Hogwarts was dark and damp. It felt unwelcoming. The lab in the manor was bright. It had big windows that let in a lot of light. Though, one could cover the windows completely when working on potions that were light-sensitive. Everything was clean and well ordered. It felt like the complete opposite of his old classroom.

“You will be making the Draught of Peace today,” Jonathan said. “The instructions are on the board next to the cauldron. Please read them through thoroughly before you begin. If you have any questions then feel free to ask them.”

Ron nodded. He walked up to the bench and looked down at the instructions. They were split up into three parts. The first one listed what ingredients he needed, the second contained instructions on how to prepare those ingredients, and the third described how to brew the potion. Ron read the instructions just like he had been told and then he went to work. He picked out the ingredients he needed from the storage cupboard and carried them over. Porcupine quills and moonstone among other things. Then according to instruction, he prepared each ingredient as carefully as he could. Jonathan came up to him and provided a few pointers that would yield him a better result. 

Once all the ingredients were pulverised to perfection, since that was what he needed to do with most of them, he lined them up in order before even adding heat under his cauldron. Brewing was tricky, and Ron had despised doing it back in Hogwarts. He himself had been pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to do a very good job. He knew he had messed up during the test. He was still determined to do his best. He didn't want to just give up. He wanted to prove to himself that he could do it.

Jonathan watched as Ron brewed. He had already seen several things that would make the potion unusable. It wasn’t anything that would harm Ron, however, so he hadn’t stepped in. 

Ron sighed. It didn't look right. It was supposed to be turquoise blue and have a light silvery vapour rise from it. It wasn’t horribly off, but it was more of a sky blue and there was no vapour. 

“Don’t worry,” Jonathan said. “We’ll work on what you did wrong together.” He walked up next to Ron. “First of all the temperature wasn’t right,” he said. “There is a simple fix to this.” He lifted a cooking thermometer out of a drawer. “This will tell you what temperature the potion is and the instructions will tell you how hot it should be. We’ll be using this method from now on or until you feel confident that you can tell without it. We’ll use this since casting spells at the cauldron could compromise the potion.”

Ron nodded. He looked at the instrument. Non-magical people had some really good ideas. 

“Another problem with the potion is that you were a little heavy-handed on the moonstone,” Jonathan said. “Now I’ll guide you through all the steps and then next time you will make it on your own again.”

Ron nodded. He felt like the students at Hogwarts were missing out. As he brewed the potion again with Jonathan’s help, it made it so much easier for him to tell what he himself had done wrong when he had brewed the potion. 

In another room on the floor above Hermione sat with a notebook and pen. With her was Sonja, the defence and offence teacher. 

“So, you see defensive spells are so classed simply because they defend the caster or someone whom the caster attempts to protect. Now offensive spells are a little harder. An offensive spell is not necessarily Dark Arts even though many try to slant the spells that way. The reason they are considered Dark Arts is because the spell's sole purpose is to cause harm. The thing is that not all uses of these spells can be considered dark. Spells like Confringo can easily kill someone, but it can also be used to save lives if the caster knows what they are doing. For example, a few years ago I worked with a team that was sent out on a rescue mission. We found five soldiers trapped behind a pile of rocks. We didn’t have any explosives to get them out with us, but my team knew about magic so I made it seem like we could blow them out while in reality, I strengthened all the rock walls before using Confringo on the rubble that had trapped them.”

“Couldn’t you have used Reducto instead?” Hermione asked. “Wouldn’t that have been safer?”

“Well, yes,” Sonja said with a smile. “But you have to remember that the people trapped didn’t know about magic, and I was trying to get as close to recreating an explosion as I could.”

“Ah, so it was to keep them from knowing, instead of having to Obliviate them afterwards?” Hermione said excitedly. 

“Exactly,” Sonja confirmed. She opened several books up as she placed them in front of Hermione. “I want you to find as many 'so-called' Dark Arts spells as you can and try to figure out a scenario where they can be used for another purpose than attacking someone.” She smiled at Hermione as the girl went to work. She had a feeling that the youngsters would do well. She would have to remind them not to speak to each other just yet. She wanted to see if they’d come up with different scenarios without help from each other. 

As Ron struggled with potions and Hermione flipped through page after page looking for spells, Harry was sitting in a greenhouse. So they wouldn't disturb the local flora with some of the foreign plants they kept, they had built several greenhouses to keep those plants in with magic cleansing going in and out of the buildings so that nothing would travel either way. He was in there with Juliet. While Jonathan was the Herbology Master, she could easily step in to deal with the basics. As it was, Melonni, Paulina, Jonathan and Nate had all been called away early that morning so there had only been a few options left for them as far as lessons went. They had done some quick workarounds of the schedule for that day, and that was how Harry had ended up in the greenhouse.

Currently, he was sitting at a table with a sketch pad in one hand and a pencil in the other. Juliet had started him off (at least according to her) just like Jonathan would have done. He was told to sketch each plant on the table in front of him as well as he could. He didn’t understand why, though. “So why exactly am I doing this?” he asked. 

Juliet smiled. “To learn patience,” she answered. “And to learn to be thorough. Plants take a lot of time and care to grow… at least like this, away from their natural habitat. Like many people your age, you’d prefer a quick task, so we will teach you to take your time. Both in this classroom and during yoga you’ll learn how to calm and take things as they come." 

Harry nodded slowly. He guessed he could see the wisdom in her words. It would maybe be nice to be able to calm down for once. He moved his latest failed attempt at a sketch of the belladonna in front of him aside and started on a new one. If he was now going to do this, he might as well do it properly. 

… 

The first month turned out to be the hardest one to get through. The pace was so different for the teens that it took them by surprise despite the fact that they should have expected it. They also weren’t used to having so close contact with their teachers. Normally at Hogwarts, they would only have lessons with the professors not sit and laugh and have fun with them in the evenings. Or listen to them tell stories. Once they had learnt how to relax without losing their edge it had started going much easier. 

“What’s up with your names Hermione?” Ron asked one day. He had been wondering about it for a while by then. It wasn’t like the sisters had common names. At least not by his standards. 

“Blame mother’s love for Shakespeare,” Hermione answered. “Juliet is the main female character in Romeo and Juliet and Hermione is a character in The Winter's Tale. According to Juliet, it could have been much worse. They considered several other names all of which are kind of insane.”

They were lying on the beach looking up at the stars. It was after dinner. It had been a rough day for all of them. They were all glad that it was Friday, and they kept to a five-day work schedule. They would be free to do whatever they wanted after the morning run the next day. 

As Harry climbed in under his covers that night, he considered what his life could have looked like if they had stayed in Britain. If they had managed to get the Ministry not to break his wand then he would be in Hogwarts right now. He couldn’t say he missed it. Sure a big part of him missed the castle itself. He didn't miss the professors, or the pace, or the other students. Though it did cross his mind that he sort of wondered how Neville was doing. The only other thing he missed was quidditch. He hadn’t asked Juliet if he was allowed to fly. Maybe they would let him do that. They had brought his broom after all. 

...

A proud smile adorned Sirius’ face. He could literally see how Harry and his friends were improving. Having one on one tutoring really made a difference. He himself had improved a lot too. The Beta team had helped him work the rust off his casting and had given him the opportunity to increase his repertoire. In the month and a half they had been there he had gained seven pounds. It was all muscle. 

He did, however, feel like it was time for a bit of Marauding. Everyone was just far too serious. He knew that doing anything that could affect the potions classroom was asking for trouble so he decided not to mess with Jonathan even though he was sure that the laid back man would be one of those that could appreciate what he was about to do. 

A scream tore through the manor. A mischievous smirk spread over Sirius’ lips. Then his eyes widened. 

“SIRIUS ORION BLACK... YOU... BETTER... RUN!”

The Marauder turned towards the house. He wasn’t sure exactly who that was. 

“I suggest you do run.” 

Sirius looked over his shoulder and chuckled. It would seem that Juliet had been hit too. She was such a cute pink bunny. 

“If you hit Nate with this he will turn you inside out,” Juliet warned him. “He, Pauline and Melonni will be the least amused by this and if Rue is still here you are better off as far away as possible because she will strike you down.

“Who screamed?” Sirius asked. 

“Ah that would have been Pauline,” Juliet said. She looked down at herself. “Did you have to make us look like Playboy bunnies? That is what is going to go over the worst with all of them. Most of them aren’t happy with showing their bodies off.”

“Well, I guess I don’t really need to hide then since none of them is going to want to show themselves until after the spell has ended,” Sirius said. 

Juliet shrugged. “I guess,” she said. “But that only holds if Rue has left already. She doesn’t care.”

“What are you wearing?”

Juliet chuckled. The expression on her little sister’s face was quite entertaining. “Ask Sirius,” she said. “He is the one who decided we should look like this today. It isn’t like I can get rid of it myself. It is wizarding magic. I can’t do anything against that.” She walked past the teens and into the house. “I’ll see if I can make sure they don’t all want to kill you, Sirius,” she called back.

Sirius was having the time of his life. Poor teenage hormones. He had seen the way both Harry and Ron had looked at their best friend’s big sister. Not that he could blame them. Just her calm confidence was sexy all on its own. Add in the bunny costume and she could probably get just about any straight guy to drool. 

It quickly became apparent to Sirius that he should be very careful with who he pranked and how. For two weeks after his little bunny prank, he’d been walking around looking like a half dog half man. The ladies did not enjoy being pranked. That much he had learnt. Well, he guessed Sonja hadn’t cared since she had been walking around with the same confident strut as Juliet and just like he had anticipated Jonathan had thoroughly enjoyed himself. 

Sirius knew he was going to have to lay low for a while. He was also considering doing a less revealing joke next time since most of the ones affected hadn't thought it was funny. If it was supposed to be a joke everyone should find it funny even those who fall victim to the joke. He knew that had been one of the Marauders’ biggest mistakes when they had been students. They had bullied, and while he would probably never apologize to Snivellus, he could learn from his mistakes. At least when he felt like it. Or Melonni came at him with a giant magical scythe. 

…

Remus sighed. He knew that convincing werewolves was almost impossible. He had tried explaining to Dumbledore that they weren’t going to listen to him. He was pack-less. An outcast. No werewolf really wanted to associate with him. They allowed him to stay with them… for a time, but he never felt welcome. The latest pack he had made it to wasn't bad. He highly doubted they would join Voldemort, but Dumbledore insisted that he needed to get them to join the light. Remus snorted. He knew that wouldn’t happen. Werewolves weren’t light creatures. The camp he was in now was no different. He knew he would have to leave them soon. He had outstayed his welcome. 

His gaze rose from the ground as he heard people moving about around him. His eyes widened. A man had entered the camp. He was alone much like himself. That was where the similarities ended. Tall, broad-shouldered, and with sunshine blond hair, the man looked like he could easily crush someone’s skull with his bare hands. He looked intimidating. But it was the way the other werewolves were acting that caught Remus off guard. Unlike when he had arrived, something that they had seen as a slight annoyance, they were now almost bending over backwards for this newcomer. 

He wondered who it was.

The stranger spoke to the pack Alpha in private. While they talked Remus could hear snippets of conversations between the members of the pack. They seemed excited. He still wasn’t sure what was going on, though. A sigh passed his lips. He needed to keep moving. He went to pack what little he had with him into a bag. 

“You are Remus Lupin, are you not?”

Remus spun around his wand in his hand. The newcomer was standing behind him. “Eh, yes,” Remus said carefully. He wasn’t sure why the man wanted to speak to him. It put him on edge. No werewolf ever wanted to talk to him. 

“I have a message for you,” the man said. “Bambi is safe and his dogfather is with him.”

Remus’ eyes widened. “You have spoken to Sirius?” he asked. 

The man chuckled. “In a manner of speaking,” he said. “My son asked me to relay the message for him. I did meet Padfoot though. And I have spoken to Harry on several occasions.” The man looked out over the pack. “You should give up,” he said. “When I spoke to the alpha here he told me what you have been up to. It is futile. No werewolf wants to join Dumbledore. Rest assured they will not join Voldemort either. The alpha did join in allegiance with my pack, and I will never join Voldemort.”

Remus nodded slowly. He didn’t doubt the man. He just didn’t know what he should do. If the mission Dumbledore had given him truly was pointless then what. He knew that if he brought back what information he had now then Albus would insist that he got the man next to him on their side. He… he really needed to…

“You look like you could use a break,” the man next to Remus said. “I could bring you to Sirius.”

Remus looked up into warm blue eyes. He could really use Sirius input right about now. “I… I would like that,” he said. 

“Good. I am Argo by the way,” the man said. He offered his hand to Remus who shook it. “We will stop by my pack for the full moon first.”

Remus breathed out in relief. “That would be appreciated,” he said. He did not want to transform anywhere near Harry again. 

"Then let's head out," Argo said. He led Remus out of the camp and side-along apparated him to his own pack's camp. 

It was incredible. Remus had never felt so welcome. He looked around wide-eyed. Every member of Argo’s pack seemed so healthy. None of them was suffering the same premature grey hair he was sporting. There were people of all ages there as well. Even young children.

“We don’t turn them,” Argo said. 

Remus looked up at the alpha. 

“We don’t turn anyone,” Argo said. “Most of the children here have been turned by people like Fenrir.”

Remus grimaced as he heard the name of the werewolf that had turned him.

“Ah, you are one of his victims as well I see,” Argo said. “Yes, he is a problem. I have tried to get a kill order in on him for a while now. It is still working its way through politics. With everything else that is going on, especially in Britain, I fear that dealing with him will be put on the back burner.”

This surprised Remus. “But Fenrir works for Voldemort,” he said. 

At that news, a wolfish grin spread over Argo’s face. “Oh, that is news to me,” he said. “In that case, I should be able to get a kill order through rather easily.” He leaned back. “It will give Alpha squad something to do.”

Remus was confused. He had no idea what Argo was speaking about. He wasn’t going to ask now though. Not before he knew what he would do with himself. For the moment he was happy to spend time with a pack that didn’t care that he was pack-less. They all welcomed him with open arms. They were so different from other packs he had met. He had a feeling that it had a lot to do with their alpha. Argo looked intimidating, but he was calm, caring, thoughtful, and above all, he didn’t fear his own wolf. 

Spending the full moon with the pack opened Remus’ eyes. His wolf had tried to go berserk until Argo had shown up next to him. The huge golden wolf hadn’t even needed to growl at him to get him to behave. Just his presence had calmed him and brought him into submission. He had gone on a run with the pack. They hadn’t come across any humans. It was all because of the alpha. 

Remus looked up. They were nearing land once more. He wasn’t sure where Argo had port-keyed them, but there had been a boat there waiting for them. A week with the man’s pack had taught Remus that being a werewolf didn’t have to be painful and lonely. It could be fun and playful. People of all ages did things together. He had even been given the opportunity to guest lecture in the pack-school. It had felt amazing to teach again. 

He was called down into a small rowboat and the man that had driven them over rowed them inland. Remus’ breath caught as they passed through the wards. A big mansion house had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. On the beach bathed in the evening sun were a group of people. 

“It seems we have arrived in time for yoga,” Argo said. “I’ll better join. Juliet will nag me otherwise. I'm supposed to be a role model after all. You will be exempt from today since you have only just arrived. Though you will get bonus points with her if you do join. Don’t worry if you can’t perform some of the moves. She outdoes anyone else here. Unless possibly Celestine is here.”

Remus nodded. He would prefer staying out of it. At least for that day. He looked over the group facing the water. He could easily see Ron and it didn’t take him long to find Hermione in the crowd. Only seconds later he had identified Harry. Then he snorted. Sirius was out there with the others. He was surprised Sirius would do something like yoga. It didn’t seem like his old friend to do something like that.

It didn’t take him long to realise that it was all very similar to what many of the werewolves in Argo’s pack had been doing the evening of the full moon. It was all very calming. Even if he wasn’t participating. 

The group broke up soon enough. 

“Remus!”

The scabby looking man chuckled. Harry had been the first one to notice him. It didn’t take long before he was caught in one of Sirius’ bear hugs. “What are you doing here?” Sirius asked. 

“Argo invited me over,” Remus said. He looked to the teens. “You guys seem to be doing alright,” he said. 

“Yeah, they are teaching us here. It is so much better than Hogwarts. Of course part of that is because there are more teachers than students,” Harry said. “We’re done for today. Though, I really should go over my rune arrays.” he smiled at the others. “I’ll see you at dinner.” He took off towards the house.

“Yeah, I have to do the last of my potion,” Ron said. “So I’ll take off too.”

Sirius chuckled as he saw Remus' expression. “Yeah, it’s weird, isn’t it,” he said. “They really have improved in the past seven weeks. Their teachers are capable of being far more involved than the professors at Hogwarts ever could which boosts the kids’ will to learn.”

“So what is the plan?” Remus asked. “I’m guessing they have one.”

Sirius shrugged. “Learn to beyond NEWT level. Possibly return to Hogwarts for their last year, but they haven’t decided yet. It depends on how quickly they learn,” he said.

“And you?” Remus asked. 

Sirius chuckled. “Well, they are working on getting me a fair trial. With some luck, they can get in contact with the right people and I can have my name cleared,” he said.

“They can do that?” Remus asked. 

“Eh, I’m pretty sure they can do just about anything they want as long as it is legal,” Sirius said. “Though they technically work for the United Nations. They are a part of the magic division.” He shrugged. “I don’t think that the British magical world is aware of the fact that they exist. Which is probably a good thing. I think the Ministry would freak. Did you know that the land that Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are built on was actually granted to us by the King of England and the King of Scotland once upon a time so technically the current Queen could take it back? Hopefully, that won’t happen though.”

Remus grimaced. “I’m sure it is better they don’t know. I mean you can imagine what they would try to do,” he said. 

“Get themselves killed,” Sirius said. “Apparently these guys know the magical people that are in charge of protecting the Queen and the Prime Minister. If they are anything like the guys around here, then Aurors don’t stand a chance. You should watch them duel. As a matter of fact, if you want to see them duel I think I could fix that now.”

Sirius led Remus into the manor house and through a number of doors. They soon found themselves in a big open room with a raised podium in the middle. On the podium were Argo and a young woman who looked a lot like Hermione. The two seemed to be circling each other. It occurred to Remus that they weren’t going to use magic. He had seen similar fights before. He wondered how the young woman could even stand a chance against someone like Argo. He had to be at least three times her size. 

To Remus’ surprise, it ended in a draw. He had barely been able to see most of her moves. “Who is she?” he asked Sirius. 

“Oh, that’s Juliet,” Sirius said in admiration. “She is the one that leads the yoga, and she is going to start training the kids in martial arts.” 

A smirk spread over Remus’ lips. “You like her,” he said quietly, picking up on the tone in Sirius’ voice.

On the podium, two others had just bowed to each other. They were going to use magic that much was obvious. Remus had a hard time following their spells or even telling what they were casting. They were equally paced since neither seemed to be getting the upper hand. 

Remus glanced over at Sirius, who wasn’t even watching the duel. His eyes were glued on the brunette across the room. “Really, Sirius just ask her out,” he said.

Sirius snorted. “Like you have managed to ask Dora out?” he asked.

“I’m too old for her,” Remus said. 

“Hogwash,” Sirius responded. “Juliet is younger than Dora is. You can’t tell me to go for it and then deny yourself the same opportunity.”

“I’m not right for her Sirius,” Remus said. 

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Why because you are a werewolf?” he said. “Sorry to break your bubble, but Argo’s wife is human. And the blond up on the podium right now is their son. The only trace of lycanthropy he shows is that he likes his meat rarer than most other people. If you are worried, speak to Argo. He can probably give you some tips. And please for your own sake join his pack. You only have to join up with them before the full moon. Apart from that, you can live wherever. He doesn’t care as long as you follow pack rules.”

“You have spoken to him?” Remus asked.

“Nope but his son knows loads,” Sirius said. “His father doesn’t keep secrets from him.”

Remus sighed. “I’ll think about it,” he said. 

“All I can ask for,” Sirius said. 

“I still maintain that you should go for it,” Remus said. 

Sirius shrugged. “We’ll see,” he said. 

Soon enough they had all joined up for dinner. Remus had never been so close to a mismatch unison before. These people were all so different, but it didn’t matter. No one here was an outsider. Not even him. He had just arrived yet they easily included him in conversation. As he sat there it became even more apparent to him how small a chance there would be that Harry, Hermione, or Ron would just leave. It also made him want something similar for himself. _‘Maybe joining Argo isn’t such a bad idea after all,’_ he thought as he listened to the conversations going on around him. 

Remus stayed on the island for a week and a half. He even got the opportunity to speak to Celestine, Argo’s wife. Having a heart to heart with her had been eye-opening. He still wasn’t sure he was the best choice for Nymphadora, but he was noticing how his reasons against even trying were being broken down from all directions. He would return to Britain. He would report his failure. Then when Albus asked him to please try again he was going to join up with Argo’s pack. He felt like he could do more good there, and it would do him more good too. He left the manor knowing that his best friend and Harry and his friends were going to be fine. He no longer had to worry about them. What little pack he had was safe. 

Everything continued like normal for several weeks. Harry and Ron had more fun learning than they ever had before. It was incredible how much difference one on one teaching did. 

A pained scream tore through the manor one night. 

Juliet was the first one in the room. She reached the bed and grabbed the boy lying in it by the wrists. He was trying to claw at his scar. Only steps behind her was Jonathan. He quickly realised that they would have to restrain the boy further so he wouldn’t hurt himself. Climbing up on the bed he settled down on Harry’s legs. He looked up at Juliet. “Do you have any idea what is going on?” he asked. 

Juliet shook her head. “I’m guessing we’ll have to wait until he wakes up,” she said. She looked towards the door. Sonja was standing there. “We forced the other two to stay in their rooms and Melonni is trying to convince Sirius to let us handle this,” Sonja said. 

“Good,” Juliet said. She looked back down at Harry. She could feel him relaxing. Then he tensed again and another scream erupted from his throat. This time it woke Harry up. He was trying to fight them. 

“Lights, Sonja,” Juliet called.

The room was bathed in soft lamplight and Harry calmed. He was safe. His teachers wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. He knew that. He could feel the grip on his wrists loosen. 

“Do you think you can tell us what happened?” Juliet asked softly. 

Harry was breathing heavily. It felt like he’d been submerged. “I don’t know,” he said hoarsely. 

“Were you hurting?” Juliet asked. 

Harry nodded. “My scar,” he said. 

“Has your scar ever hurt before?” Jonathan asked. 

“Yeah,” Harry answered. “When I’m near Voldemort.”

Juliet met Jonathan’s eyes. A silent message passed between them. 

“Has anyone ever examined your scar?” Jonathan asked. 

Harry shook his head. “No, not as far as I know,” he said. 

“Would you mind if we did?” Juliet asked. 

“You think there is something with my scar that makes it hurt?” Harry asked. 

“We are unsure,” Juliet said. “But we would much rather examine it then just let you continue like this. You were trying to claw your own forehead to shreds when we got here. Jonathan has healed the worst of it.”

“Okay,” Harry said. 

“We won’t do it now,” Jonathan said. “I want more healers with me.” 

“Celestine, Zephie... you want Estelle as well?” Juliet asked. 

Jonathan thought about it for a moment. “Yes,” he said. “They all work with healing in different ways. They will all have their own input.”

“I’ll go fix that then,” Juliet said. She looked down at Harry as she stood next to the bed. “We will help you to the very best of our abilities,” she promised him.

Jonathan held out a potion vial. “Here it’s some pain reliever,” he said. “You should drink it and try to go back to sleep.”

Jonathan turned the light back off as he left the room. He knew it would take some time before all the Healers could arrive. Some of them might even be out in the field which could complicate things. They couldn’t just up and leave if that was the case. He knew he was asking for the best of the best. He was doing it for a reason. Scars were not supposed to hurt. At least not the way that Harry’s obviously did, and they were not supposed to react differently because of let's say a specific person. Something was seriously wrong.

For several days there was a worried tension hanging over the manor. Slowly, and one by one the three healers appeared. The ladies were both very different and very similar. Zephie was more serious than the other two, Estelle seemed like her mind was somewhere else, and Celestine was bubbly and outgoing. 

Together the four healers took Harry to one of the medical rooms. No one else knew what was going on in there. After a day Sirius had taken to walking back and forth on the hallway carpet. Ron and Hermione had dug themselves so deep in their school work that it was almost impossible to speak to them at all. 

In the evening two days after they had disappeared into the room Jonathan came out and joined everyone else at dinner. “Harry is fine,” he said before anyone had a chance to ask. The others are stabilizing him, but he will be fine. We will tell you what we had to do, but we believe that Harry has the right to know first. We had to give him dreamless sleep.”

Juliet gave a curt nod. “No one is to pester Jonathan. You will learn what they had to do in due time,” she said in a tone that did not allow for any type of counter-arguments.

Jonathan was glad that Juliet held that kind of aura. It was one of the reasons she was the one that led their squad. People did what she told them to do. 

It took another two days for Harry to wake up and rejoin his friends. He wouldn’t be allowed to use his magic in a while to let it stabilize. That didn't mean he wouldn't have plenty of things to do. All the teachers adapted to keep him busy. 

“So what … like what was the problem?” Harry asked. 

Jonathan sighed. He rubbed his brow before he returned Harry's gaze. “There was an anomaly attached to your scar,” he said. “As far as we could tell it was an infusion of magic. Some would have called it a piece of soul though that wouldn’t be quite true. There are ways to fracture your soul, but you can’t successfully attach that to another magical being. The original soul won’t allow for the disruption. It is, however, possible to infuse someone else with your own magic. Couples do this to strengthen each other all the time. It is normal enough. We believe that Voldemort tried to create some kind of soul-vessel the night that he tried to kill you as a baby. But he failed. He must have tried to use you as the vessel just before his body was destroyed. The concentration of magic could connect with you but not the soul.” He paused. “After that, we believe that it was another’s magic that interfered. Most likely your mother’s. Her magic didn’t want Voldemort’s magic to mix with yours which is why it was kept in its concentrated state rather than just mixing with your own magic.”

“How come I am a Parseltongue then?” Harry asked. “According to Dumbledore, I got that ability from Voldemort.”

Jonathan leaned back. “I’d say your mother’s protection wasn’t perfect. The ability isn’t dangerous to you so it slipped through,” he said. “Your mother’s magic hasn’t been as strong in protecting you lately, but your own magic has continued what hers started.”

“What about the pain then?” Hermione asked.

“Well that is easier,” Jonathan said. “Voldemort's magic wants to get back to him, but since Harry’s magic has encapsulated his magic it can’t just leave Harry. The resulting struggle is what hurts. The biggest problem for us was that Voldemort’s magic had mixed with Harry’s blood through the scar. It was a tad bit tricky to separate the two.”

“But how did that give me visions?” Harry asked. 

“Ah, that is where people would assume there was a piece of a soul involved,” Jonathan said. "The problem is that concentrations of magic can make that happen too especially if the vessel doesn’t have very strong mental shields.” He straightened. “You see the repeated exposure that you have had over the years to Voldemort has made you more sensitive to him. I’m guessing he hadn’t either cared about mental shields or have been incapable of forming them.”

“Though we do worry that in a way he was still channelling his magic towards you and that was what gave you the connection,” it was Zephie one of the other Healers that spoke up. “It doesn’t take as much as some may believe to keep a channelling spell up; especially if it is just a slow trickle. It could have consumed you. Or he could have attempted to take over your body should his own be destroyed once more.”

“This, however, is not something you will have to worry about anymore,” Jonathan said. “Since we have removed both his magic and the connection, he will not be capable of taking you over that way.”

“So what you are telling me is that my godson’s life was constantly put in even greater danger the more exposure he had to Voldemort?” Sirius asked. 

“We don’t think that Voldemort ever figured out they had that connection, but if he had he could definitely have used it to his advantage. He could have opened the channel up and flooded Harry with his own magic. It could have driven Harry insane or even killed him. It is really hard to tell with these things since it isn’t a regular occurrence,” Zephie said. 

“What we can now guarantee is that Harry is safe,” Jonathan said. “And this has also alerted us to the fact that Voldemort may have created soul vessels that need to be destroyed.”

“The diary,” Ron said. “It possessed my little sister.” he looked over to Harry.

Harry nodded. “Voldemort stepped out of the diary,” he said. 

“Destroyed?” Juliet asked. 

“I stabbed it with a basilisk fang,” Harry answered. 

“Well, that would do it,” Zephie said. 

“We did that before he had regained his body, though, so he must have more,” Harry said. 

Jonathan grimaced. “Great, he thought he would get a better result with more of them,” he said. 

“Doesn’t work that way, huh?” Ron said. 

“Nope,” Jonathan said. “You would just weaken yourself.”

“Doesn’t make him any less intimidating,” Harry said. 

“Unfortunately no,” Juliet said. “But with the training, we are giving you. You will stand a much better chance should you end up facing him again. We will also equip all three of you with a little contraption that will be able to call the entire Beta squad to your side. So if you ever end up having to fight Voldemort you can call on us.”

Ron snorted. “They won’t stand a chance,” he said. 

Everyone was happy to know that Harry would be fine. The Alpha team now had a new objective that needed to be dealt with. Find Voldemort’s soul vessels. 

In the manor, teaching went on as normal even though Harry had to lay off magic for a few days. 

…

“It’s been six months now,” Juliet said. “How are they doing?”

“Great,” Pauline said. “They are doing far better than I thought they would. Both Harry and Ron are catching up smoothly. They are up to fifth-year studies now. Hermione is ahead of them of course since she knew everything we have been teaching the boys already.”

“In Charms and Transfiguration, they are all doing great. Ron’s problems have basically disappeared. He definitely has a knack for Charms,” Nate said. “If they continue as they have started then I expect them to be capable of clearing their NEWTs in less than a year.”

“I would have to agree,” Sonja said. “They have forced me to change my time table. They are learning faster than I expected.”

“They are all doing alright in Potions and Herbology. I would have recommended that Ron stopped, but I can tell that he really wants a NEWT in Potions. He doesn’t want to go beyond that though,” Jonathan said. “I can tell that both Harry and Hermione have an interest in continuing. Maybe not to Mastery level, but they want to learn how to start building their own potions.”

“Which is basically the same as mastery level,” Juliet said chuckling. 

“Yeah, I didn’t point that out to them,” Jonathan said. 

“Okay since they are doing well,” Juliet said. “Are you going to start them on Healing, Curse-breaking and Warding?”

“I will start them in Healing,” Jonathan said. 

“I will start them on Warding,” Pauline said.

“But we believe that we’ll wait another few months before we start them on Curse-breaking,” Melonni said. “Since it would be good for them to know some warding and healing first.”

Juliet nodded. “Good, then I suggest that you renew their time tables,” she said. She left the rest of them since her times wouldn’t change. She wandered outside. When her sister had first asked for help, she had been sceptical. Of course, she had wanted to help her little sister, but she had been convinced that placing Hermione in a different magical school was the best thing to do. Then Voldemort had come back and she had learnt more about Harry Potter. It had become obvious that another school wouldn’t be good enough… not safe enough. 

She leaned over the railing running around the terrace. She was glad that the three students they had taken in had turned out to be as smart and willing to learn as they were. She would have been the one that had to take the fall otherwise. 

“Is something the matter?”

Juliet looked over her shoulder. It was Sirius. “No I’m just glad this has turned out as well as it has,” she said. “I had to put my career at stake to bring Hermione and her friends here.”

“Does she know?” Sirius asked.

“No, she doesn't,” Juliet said. “She wouldn’t have gone along with it if she had known. She knows just how much this job means to me." She paused. "I needed to help them through.”

“She’s your little sister,” Sirius said. He wished that he could have done the same for his own little brother. Regulus hadn’t wanted to follow the Dark Lord, but he didn't have much of a choice. 

“Yes,” Juliet said. She stood up straight. “I will protect her with my life should I have to,” she said. 

Sirius gave a mirthless chuckle. “I wish I could say the same,” he said quietly. 

Juliet looked at him. “You can’t always manage,” she said. “Sometimes it is hard enough to keep yourself alive.” 

“Yeah, I just wish I had tried harder,” Sirius said. 

“It is in the past now,” Juliet said. “I know it isn’t easy to put it behind you sometimes, but it is healthier to not let your past consume you.”

“True,” Sirius said. He looked out over the sea. 

“It is alright to make mistakes.”

Sirius’ eyes moved from the reflections of the sun on the waves and looked down. A smooth tan hand was lying on top of his. “Even when that mistake kills your best friend and his wife?” he said. 

“Yes,” Juliet said. “Because the mistake isn’t solely yours. You are not the only one that made that mistake. You can’t take the entire blame.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sirius said. Her words did make him feel better though. His eyes widened suddenly and he simply stared at Juliet in shock. She was smirking. “You just doused me with water!” he exclaimed once his brain had caught up with him. 

“Yep,” Juliet said. She dodged as he tried to hit her with water. Laughing she ran out on the beach with Sirius right behind her. 

“What are Sirius and Juliet up to?” Harry said as he, Hermione and Ron came walking out on the terrace. 

“No idea,” Hermione said. She watched as one of Sirius’ spells finally hit her sister. 

Juliet felt herself lift off the sand. He had used a levitation charm on her. “Let me down,” she exclaimed. 

“Oh, alright,” Sirius said. He twisted his wand, Juliet felt how her body was flung back into the sea. She managed to get her bearings quickly. Sputtering she stood up. 

Sirius laughed heartily. She was drenched. “That’s what you get!” he called out. 

“Oh, really!” Juliet called back.

“What is happening to the ocean?” Ron said.

Harry and Hermione looked out to sea. Ron was right; something was wrong. Hermione’s eyes caught her sister in the water, and then they landed on a laughing Sirius. “Oh, Sirius is in for it now,” she said.

The other two looked at her confused. The confusion didn’t last for long. Behind Juliet water was building up. She took a few steps back through the curtain, and then she let the water go. It washed over Sirius knocking him off his feet, drenching him as well. He managed to get up as the water returned to the sea. “You monster,” he said as Juliet came walking up to him. 

“How about you don’t try to combat a water mage by throwing her into the biggest collection of water around,” Juliet said. 

“Oh, really is that so,” Sirius said. He reached out and grabbed her.

“Eh, Hermione,” Harry said as he poked his friend. 

“Yeah,” Hermione said, not looking up from her book. 

“Sirius is snogging Juliet.”

Hermione lowered the book. She raised an eyebrow. “Well, that was about time,” she said before raising the book once more. “Though mom and dad might have opinions about his age.”

“You really don’t mind that my godfather fancies your sister?” Harry asked. 

Hermione shrugged. “They are both grown up. I would never imagine telling my sister what she can or cannot do,” she said. “And Sirius isn’t that bad. He’s grown a lot since coming here.”

The boys couldn't help but agree. Sirius really had grown.

…

It was raining outside. You could hear it tapping on the windows. Harry Potter stood in a brightly lit room hunched over a cauldron. It was bubbling away with a potion that he had been around to brew once before. Polyjuice. Hermione had been the one in charge at the time. Now he had to do it himself. In a cauldron next to it stood another one containing Veritaserum. Since both of them had a month of brewing time Jonathan thought it just as well that Harry tried them both at once. 

Harry didn’t mind. After the first two weeks of revising exactly how ingredients were supposed to be prepared, the difference between the ways to prepare them, and the reason for why they needed to be prepared the way they were, he had no bigger problems getting the preparation correct. There hadn’t really been all that much wrong with his brewing, but it became clear to him that the Slytherins must have messed with his potions more often than he had thought since he had done so much better simply by being elsewhere. 

As far as actually being taught what he needed to look out for Jonathan was so much clearer. He didn't expect Harry to somehow figure things out for himself. Potion making was a precise art. Guesswork was not a good addition to it. Sure sometimes Jonathan would simply hand him a book when he had a question and he would have to find the answer himself. There were even times when the man had just told him to go check in the library. 

There was a pattern though. When Harry asked questions that were beyond what Jonathan believed his current level to be he would answer. If the question was on his current level, he would be handed a book. If the question was below his current level, then he was sent to the library. He looked up from his cauldrons. “I’m done for now sir,” he said. 

Jonathan came up to the table and looked at the potions. “Looks good,” he said. “You can leave, but remember that you have to make sure to look after them without my input.”

“Will do sir,” Harry said before leaving the room. He set an alarm with his wand and headed over to the library. He had a ward array to finish. They had started with wards not too long ago, and Pauline had them begin with rune based wards since that was a natural way to both move their knowledge of runes and wards forward at the same time. When Harry felt he was done or he had any questions he could go speak to Pauline, but there was no need for him to sit in some designated classroom to do his work when the library worked just as well.

Harry looked at the runes he wanted to use. He was supposed to use them to protect a model house. The more things he thought of the better. But Pauline had also told him that he needed to consider whether the rune array ward was the best way of placing each ward as well. So he needed to make sure he knew what spell wards could be placed and if there were any equivalents to the rune ones he wanted to use. It was tricky work but well worth it. 

While Harry was pouring over books in the library, Ron was sitting in the greenhouse. He couldn’t say he enjoyed plants himself, but he had reached a stage where he could understand someone like Neville’s fascination with them. He wanted to make sure he knew how to deal with the dangerous ones so he studied. They had all been taught how to deal with most plants they would ever come across. It was important for them to know since the nearby jungle held some pretty dangerous species. He knew the local flora after all the runs they had made through that jungle. Juliet had pushed them hard. They had needed to learn on the fly. She had always been there should they need help though. It would feel weird without her. 

“Earth to Ron.”

Ron looked up. It was Juliet. “Jo,” he said. 

“You should probably get started with charms,” Juliet said. “Melonni will be back soon. You might as well get cleaned up and head over there.” They had been short on teachers again. It happened often enough that Juliet was used to bringing them to the greenhouse or taking them out in the forest. Or with Ron, she would sometimes work on strategy since the redhead was pretty good at it. Some evenings they could spend hawking over a chess table. A muggle one since Juliet hated the blabbing pieces that a wizarding set held. 

“Be right at it,” Ron said before he got up and headed out. He figured Juliet was right and he should get cleaned up. Melonni didn’t really care about dirt, but sometimes it got in the way. He was clean and seated in the Charms classroom by the time Melonni showed up. “Good you’re here,” she said. “I’ve been getting some things for us to work with.” She poured out several things on one of the desks.” 

“I’m thinking you can help me make some things for the Alpha team. They are in the thick of it right now and could really use some help. We need to make things that are non-lethal but will stop people in their tracks. This will sort of be a combination thing, but I’ll be the only teacher that handles it.”

Ron moved up to the table. It was filled with all kinds of everyday items. “We aren’t supposed to let it show on them, I take it?” he said. “What we do I mean.”

“No that is definitely a part of the plan.”

“Where do they need them? What kind of situations are we talking about here?” Ron asked. 

Melonni smiled. She was well aware that he was a strategist. As far as she was concerned that meant he was the leader. Juliet was after all their best strategist. The rest of them were good. She was better. She could be almost a hundred different scenarios ahead of the rest of them when she was really working on it, Melonni wasn’t sure Ronald was that good, but as far as she had been able to tell, he came close. “They are supposed to help produce escape routes. Mostly from restaurants or offices. Places like that. They will be placed there ahead of time,” she said.

Ron nodded slowly. He was deep in thought. They needed to make the items inconspicuous, but they also needed to be visible to the Alpha team. Every item needed to have a unique way of getting people out of a sticky situation so that no one would expect it. If they made too many like the other, people would start working out ways to counteract them. “You know,” he said after a while. “You should tell them to go by Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and pick some things up as well. My brothers have some pretty good inventions. They could be good back-ups.”

Melonni chuckled. “I’ll tell them about that,” she said. “I think we should still try to do our best.”

“Oh, of course,” Ron said. He sat down by the table. He started tinkering with the items. 

“Try using your whole arsenal,” Melonni reminded him after a while. She picked one of the items up and cast several rather easy charms on it. Then she sat it down and activated it. It started dancing. Ron ended up sitting there with a foolish grin on his face. Melonni had to dispel him. “See.”

Ron nodded. He understood. Simple wasn’t necessarily bad. He just needed to increase the strength of the spells. It would be a little tricky since he could overdo it if he used too much power. Absently he walked over to one of the bookshelves in the room. He pulled out a book and started flipping through the pages. Research still wasn’t his favourite, but he’d been taught enough tricks to make it easy for him. He wasn’t the only one in the house that didn’t like spending hours over books. Neither Sonja nor Nate were the most studious of people. They were good at what they did though. You didn’t always need books to be clever. 

Hermione was sitting with her nose in a book completely voluntarily. She was waiting for Nate… sort of. She couldn’t be sure he would show up that day so she was going over things. She hadn’t really liked his latest suggestion. He had pointed out to her that one could easily transfigure a person's inner organs into stone for example. There were many ways to use transfiguration as a battle mechanic. He had been teaching them how to do it but directly using it on a person's heart. Well, it didn’t feel right to Hermione. She was still researching it though. She would need ways to protect herself and her friends from it should someone ever try to use it against them. 

She hadn’t liked what she had found so far. It wasn’t easy to reverse a transfigured organ. To do it you needed to know exactly how a person's heart was supposed to look and work. Since everyone was unique, it wasn’t as easy as some might think. She figured she would have to find some way of getting to know the inside of her friends. She would have to speak to her sister about that. Nate might know a way too… or Jonathan. She added another question to her notebook. 

She had a lot of questions for Nate. She liked him. He was a good teacher. He seemed emotionless, but that wasn’t really true. He just had a hard time showing his emotions. He taught in a calm to the point manner that made Hermione feel like she belonged… if that was the right way to describe it. She had always felt like an outsider in a way. Sure Harry and Ron were her friends, but neither of them understood her wish to learn the way that most of the teachers in Beta team did. And yes sure Nate was not a bookworm, but he found the information he wanted in other ways. Mostly by experimenting. She liked that too. He was always a reliable source of information. She never felt the need to question him because he never gave facts like they were set in stone. He always left room for interpretations. 

Sirius passed by the library. He chuckled as he saw Harry and Hermione in there pouring over two huge piles of books. He felt years younger. His time with the team had been wonderful. It had been almost a year and a half. The kids had taken their OWLs. They all had pretty amazing marks. He was proud of them. 

Juliet was standing in the kitchen. She was washing potatoes for later. Sirius walked up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her. He wasn’t really sure what to think. She was such an amazing person. He felt like the luckiest man alive. She actually wanted him when he had nervously come to ask her, she had laughed and said yes. They had dated for a while now. It made him smile just thinking about it. 

“I think we should go to Miami in a few days. We’ll meet some Aurors from Britain and you can actually let them know the truth. Since we have already cleared you through the UN, it will really only be formalities. We’ll have some guards just to be on the safe side. Maybe we should bring Hermione. No one can take my sister away from me like they could try with the boys. She knows what happened with Peter.”

“Sounds good,” Sirius said. “I’m sure you have everything under control. You usually do.”

Juliet snorted. “It’s my job to plan things. I’d get people killed if I didn’t do a good job.” She dumped the potatoes in a bowl. She would need to cut them up before spreading them out on a baking sheet. She turned around. A smile played on her lips. She kissed Sirius. “I need to make dinner,” she said. She bumped him. “You’re in the way, love.”

Sirius chuckled. “It would seem that way wouldn’t it,” he said. He took the bowl from her and carried it over to the table. Juliet brought out two cutting boards and a pair of knives. “You might as well help out if you're going to stick around,” she said.

Sirius accepted the knife she handed him. He didn’t mind helping her. At least not when it meant he got to spend time with Juliet. 

…

Hermione came walking down the stairs from the second floor. She was dressed in a business suit. They were leaving for Miami to free Sirius. He had already been declared a free man by the UN magical division and the US magical government also saw him as a free man. Now they just had to present their evidence to a delegation from Britain. Hermione was a little nervous. Last time Ron and Harry had gone with her, but since the Brits could try to bring them back to Britain they had decided it wasn’t a good idea for either of them to come along. 

“Don’t worry Hermione.”

Hermione turned around. Her sister was wearing a similar suit to her own. The dark blue looked even more professional on her. 

Sonja came down the stairs. “Everyone ready?” she asked. 

“You’re coming with us?”

“Yes,” Sonja said. “Juliet thought it might be good if there were two of us. Especially since she is an elemental, not a witch. I’m coming along as extra security that’s all.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sirius came down the stairs. He was very stylish in a white suit and dark blue shirt. “I’m guessing we’ll get going right away?”

Juliet nodded. “We have a port-key that will take us to an apparition spot not too far away from the meeting place. She put on a pair of glasses and the other two women followed suit. Sirius chuckled. “You look like FBI agents,” he said. “All you need is those cords running from your ears. 

Juliet rolled her eyes. She started heading towards the door. They needed to get going. “Coming?” she asked by the door before she headed outside. 

“Good luck,” Harry called.

Sirius gave him a thumbs-up. He grabbed onto the port-key Juliet held out and she activated it. They landed in an alley with a magic secluded area. “Hermione you walk in front. Sonja and I will take the sides. Be ready for anything, but try to avoid magic. We shouldn’t run into any problems.”

“But I might as well be ready, right,” Hermione said. She walked out upfront and led the group. Her sister had shown her where they were going. It wasn’t quite the same place as last time, but it was close enough for her to know the layout. Sirius had a hard time keeping from laughing. They had used a bit more of a down key outfit last time. This just felt like he was escorted by special agents. It had to look ridiculous from the outside. With a bit of effort, he managed to keep his face straight. It probably wouldn’t be that good if he started laughing. 

They entered a hotel. A man dressed much like the ladies walked up to them and without a word led them over to the elevator. The ladies' outfits suddenly made sense to Sirius. They had dressed the same as the Aurors in the States would when they went no-mag. They would just look like employees. It was actually pretty smart.

The room they eventually entered was lavish. Marble and big flower arrangements with a soft burgundy carpet. 

“Ah, there you are mister Black.”

Sirius walked up to the man. It was the same one he’d met last time when he’d been declared innocent. “Mister Hotchner it is good to see you again,” Sirius said. He shook the man’s hand. 

“We’ll have this dealt with in no time,” Hotchner said. “I can understand if it feels nerve-wracking, but you are safe here. We know of your innocence so no matter what our British colleagues say you are in no danger here. I understand that you’d like to return to Britain since it is your birth country.”

“It wouldn't be a major loss,” Sirius said. “I could live without ever going back, but there are some things I would be missing in that case. It would be nice to be present for my best friend's wedding for example.” Remus had eventually asked Nymphadora out and the two seemed to be getting along rather well. Sirius was fairly certain there were wedding bells in the air. He cast a glance at Juliet. Maybe he should consider proposing. 

They shared some small talk for half an hour or so before the door opened again. Another man in a dark blue suit entered. He stepped to the side. The first person behind him was a woman with steely grey hair and a monocle. Sirius rose. He bowed. “Madam Bones,” he said. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. She had been warned there was a delicate matter that needed discussing, but she could never have guessed that it would involve Sirius Black. “Mister Black,” she responded with a bow of her head. Then she greeted Hotchner. The second man, behind Madam Bones, Sirius easily recognised as Shacklebolt. The towering dark-skinned man looked surprised but didn’t react apart from that. It was the last that became a problem. His hair looked like a lion’s mane and his eyes widened. He drew his wand as soon as he had a clear shot on Sirius. 

As one, the guards in the room took one step forward and drew their wands. A shield appeared around Sirius. 

“Put your wand away, Scrimgeour,” Madam Bones said sternly.

“But Madam that’s Sirius Black.”

Bones gave him a stern glare. “I am very well aware of that, Scrimgeour,” she said. “I’m sure there is an explanation for this. Now put your wand away before you are escorted out.” She knew no one in there would harm them, but they would remove her people if they presented any kind of danger. 

Slowly, and muttering under his breath Scrimgeour put his wand away. He didn’t like it. He walked up so he was standing behind the armchair Bones sat down in. He was glaring at a rose in one of the flower arrangements angrily. 

Hotchner cleared his throat before he started. “We have asked you here to hear the case of Mister Sirius Orion Black.” He motioned for one of his Aurors to step forward. The man opened a briefcase he had been holding. Inside lay an orb the size of a goose egg. “You are aware of how this works, Madam?” Hotchner asked. 

Madam Bones nodded. “I am,” she said. 

Shacklebolt raised his hand. “Would you mind informing those of us who might not know?” he asked. He had never seen the strange orb before. 

“Of course,” Hotchner said briskly. “This is an Orb of Truth. It will glow blue if the person holding it is telling the truth. It will turn white if the person is withholding something, and it will glow red if the person is lying.”

“It is a reliable method?” Shacklebolt asked. 

“As far as we have found there is no one who can lie to this method. It is, of course, possible that someone could trick it, but so far that has never happened. We always gather evidence as well as taking testimonies. It has never been wrong, and it is far safer and more accurate than any truth potion we have ever come across.” He handed the orb to Sirius before turning to Amelia Bones. “Do you wish to handle this Madam?” he asked. 

“Preferably yes,” Madam Bones said. She turned to Sirius. “Our information indicates that you were the Potter’s secret-keeper. Is this true?” she asked. 

“No,” Sirius said and the Orb glowed blue. 

“Who was the secret-keeper?”

“Peter Pettigrew.”

“Did you kill Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles on the 31st of October 1981?”

“No.”

“Who cast the blasting curse?”

“Peter did.”

“How come you claimed to have killed the Potters when the Aurors captured you?”

Scrimgeour snorted. “Because he was guilty of course,” he said.

Sonja rolled her eyes. “That isn’t necessarily true,” she said. “He could have felt guilty without being the cause. His declaration could very well be a sign of his love for the Potters.”

“Quiet please,” Madam Bones said sternly. “We aren’t here to discuss PTSD.” She turned back to Sirius. “Please answer the question.”

“I felt responsible,” Sirius said. “I was the one who recommended to James that they should use a different secret-keeper. I felt it would be too obvious if it was me. We made it Peter instead. If I had just been the secret-keeper then maybe they would still be alive.” The orb had stayed blue.

Amelia nodded slowly. “Why did you escape from Azkaban?” she asked.

“Minister Fudge gave me a newspaper. It had a picture with a family on it. Peter was sitting on the shoulder of one of the boys.”

“Please clarify.”

“Peter just like James and I became unregistered animaguses during our time at Hogwarts. He could turn into a rat. It was the rat that I saw in that picture.”

“So you decided to escape,” Amelia said. “How did you get out of the prison?”

“I turned into my own animagus form. Dementors can’t really tell the difference you see. I slipped between the bars of my cell in my human form and then I switched. I got out of the prison and swam to the mainland. I spent most of my time in my animagus form after that.”

“We’ll have to look into that,” Amelia said calmly. “People aren’t supposed to be able to leave that way.” She gave him a stern look. “Will you register?” she asked. 

Hotchner reached for a set of papers. “I have his registration here ma’am. You can bring this copy with you,” he said as he handed the papers to her. 

Amelia looked them over. “Everything seems to be in order,” she said. “So, how did you know where to look?”

“It said in the paper that the youngest children went to Hogwarts. I feared what would happen to Harry should Voldemort return with Peter that close to him. I had to do something.”

“We are speaking of Harry Potter?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where he is now?”

Sirius smirked. “In school,” he said. “He took his OWLs some time back. Really good grades.”

Hotchner handed Amelia another set of papers. “Since we use the same grading system I don’t see why these shouldn’t be valid in Britain as well,” he said.

Amelia looked the papers over. There were some pretty good grades there. “Where is Ronald Weasley?” she asked. 

“In school,” Hotchner said. 

“His family has reported him missing and he isn’t in Hogwarts,” Amelia said. “I believe they have a right to know.”

“Unfortunately I cannot help you. You will have to turn to the UN magic division. They are the ones in charge of that. All I can say is that it is with his full consent.”

“You have met him?”

“Once when they cleared Mister Black to us.”

Amelia shook her head slowly. “It is kidnapping,” she said. 

“The law is a bit divided there. It is clear from his perspective that he ran away. I’m not so sure we can call his teachers kidnappers. Either way, the whole thing is an approved mission. As I said you will have to bring this up with UNMD. This is their thing.”

“What is that?”

“The UNMD?”

“Yes.”

“It is the United Nations Magical Division.” 

“The UN is a muggle version of the ICW isn’t it? I didn’t know they had a magic division.”

“They do. We have been aware of them for some time now. We work together quite a lot.”

Amelia sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere. “You said there was proof,” she said. 

“Ah, of course.” Hotchner handed her a folder. 

Amelia went through the pictures and documents in it. There was the newspaper that Sirius had seen the Weasley family in. Then there were several pictures of a rat-like man. Amelia sighed. It was Pettigrew and she could tell the photos were new. “How did you get these?” she asked. 

“The Alpha team,” Hotchner said. 

Amelia gave him a questioning glance. 

“The Alpha team is the UNMDs foremost tactical team. They are supported by the Beta and Delta teams. Not even I know all the members. I have worked with people from both Alpha and Beta.”

“I would be surprised if you had worked with Delta.” Juliet stepped forward. “They are undercover. Only the head of the Alpha and Beta know who they are.”

“May I introduce the leader of Beta team, Juliet,” Hotchner said. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

Juliet shrugged. “He is the godfather of one of my charges. I make sure the people under my protection are safe. You know that,” she said. She turned to Amelia Bones. “Beta team will move into Britain soon. Once that happens I’ll get in contact with you.”

“Why?” Amelia asked. “Why are you coming to Britain?”

“Alpha team is gathering information and disrupting Voldemort right now. When we move in as well, our orders will be to neutralise him and his Death Eaters. You seem stable enough to know the truth. We have walked on glass around Britain for quite some time now. It would be nice to set up the same kind of connection with you as we have with most other countries.”

“You are British yourself,” Amelia said. 

Juliet chuckled. “That I am ma’am,” she said. “I was employed into the Beta team before it really came into existence. Many of the other members are also Brits. Two has even attended Hogwarts.” Her expression turned serious. “You will be dealing with the Beta team foremost. We are younger and can move into new areas easier. We don’t have as many areas of responsibility as the Alpha team.” She paused for a moment. “It might be nice for you to know that Fenrir Greyback has been neutralized. His connection to Voldemort moved him up a hit list and he has been taken out.”

“I have not heard anything about this,” Amelia said. 

“It was taken care of as an internal matter within the werewolf community ma’am. Usually, there isn't a body then. We do have proof however, I will send it to you as soon as possible. Most of his werewolves have left Voldemort. The few that have remained are pack-less. The werewolves are not supporting this 'so-called' Dark Lord.”

“You are very certain about this.”

“It is direct information from an alpha wolf. His pack is the biggest and strongest in Europe. He is well known by the UNMD he works with them for the betterment of werewolf living conditions everywhere.”

“Foolishness,” Scrimgeour snorted. 

“To you maybe,” Juliet said. “But to us, werewolves are people too. We will not treat them any different from other humans.”

“I look forward to speaking with you, Juliet,” Amelia said. She looked at Sirius. “I will have your name cleared as soon as I get back. It might take some time before everyone gets it so I would suggest not returning for another month at least.” She looked up at Juliet. “While we are talking about this is there any way for me to speak to Harry?”

“I’m not entirely sure. It depends on what you want to talk to him about,” Juliet said. “And it really is Sirius' decision since he is Harry’s guardian.”

“He has been accused of underage magic in front of a Muggle,” Amelia said. “He was supposed to appear at a hearing and did not show up.”

“Ah, yes well,” Juliet looked at Hotchner. “You have the memory with you?” she asked.

“Yes.” The stern-looking man motioned to another Auror who brought out a case. It was filled with vials. “This is the correct one,” he said. A pensive was placed in front of them on the table. “If you would.”

Amelia looked at the swirling substance for only a moment before she dipped her head in. She was gone for a good half-hour before she returned. “Dementors,” she said angrily. “I will be looking into this. Those allegations will be dropped. He saved their lives.” Her eyes narrowed. She was fairly certain the memory was true. She was quite good at seeing discrepancies and she doubted that a teen of sixteen could fool her. “I’ll get back to you about this,” she said. She looked at Juliet and then at Sirius. “Hopefully Mr Hotchner knows how to reach you. We’ll keep you updated." 

Sirius smiled. “Thank you, Madam,” he said. 

Amelia sighed. “I’m going to have trouble getting people to listen to me about this though,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” Hotchner said. “I’ll speak to the President. She can have a long nice talk with Fudge for you. He cares enough about his image that having her displeased with him will make him worried.”

“I would appreciate that,” Amelia said. 

“If our business is concluded here, we would like to get back,” Juliet said. 

“Go ahead,” Hotchner said. 

“We’ll be in touch,” Juliet told both him and Amelia. Then she, Hermione, Sonja and Sirius left the room. They headed down to the sunny street. 

“That went well,” Hermione said. 

“Quite,” Juliet said. “I’m worried about the current situation in Britain though. Alpha team has told me Voldemort is up to something. We should gather and see if we can’t figure out what. We’ll need your opinion too.”

Hermione nodded and then she started thinking. What could Voldemort be up too? They made it back to the apparition point and headed back to the manor. What could… Hermione’s eyes widened. “Sis,” she said almost desperately.

“Yes, Mione.”

“Is Voldemort still after Harry?”

“According to my information, he is rather obsessed.”

“He could try to get to Harry through people he cares about.”

Juliet nodded slowly. “We have people watching the Weasleys. Mom and dad left the country and Remus hasn’t been back since he left to join Argo’s pack last. I think he brought his girlfriend along. It is safe enough for them there.”

“The Weasleys would be the prime target,” Hermione said. “By attacking them he would disrupt Dumbledore as well as have a way to get to Harry.”

“I’ll send word to Rita. She’ll know what to do,” Juliet said. “We might even have to send out some Betas.”

That got Hermione thinking. “Are there more of you than our teachers?” she asked. 

Juliet chuckled. “Of course,” she said. “Most of them are out in the field. They haven’t come by either because they aren’t done yet, or because they work for the Alpha team right now so they don’t report to me.”

“Oh, well I guess that makes sense.” There was a long pause as they settled down in the conference room and waited for the rest to join them. “How many agents are you?” Hermione asked. She was curious now. 

“About a dozen,” Juliet said. “The Alpha team is about the same and the Delta is almost double.”

“That’s not very many,” Hermione said. 

“No, but we are the best,” Juliet said. “You don’t need many when you have good. We are the best. If we need more than we have then we contact Aurors from our allies.” She turned to the rest of the room. “They are having some problems with Voldemort. He has been trying to take over the ministry, but some time ago he just stopped. According to our people, he is focusing completely on finding Harry.” She nodded in the black-haired young man’s direction. She let them know what Hermione had come up with already. “We will have people on it as soon as possible,” she told Ron. “Is there anything else we expect them to do?”

“Do we have someone on the inside?”

Juliet smirked. “We do,” she said. 

“Can we contact them?”

“We can if we have to. It wouldn’t be my first choice though.”

“Is it one of yours?”

“Yes.”

Jonathan grimaced. He knew just how difficult it was to speak to those people. Juliet would have to go personally. She couldn’t send anyone else. “I guess that will have to wait then,” he said. 

Juliet nodded. She looked at Sirius. “Do you think you can act completely smitten with me? Willing to do anything I tell you to without seeming too out of character?” she asked. 

Sirius thought about it for a moment. “I guess I could. It depends on why though,” he said. 

“I have a few plans,” Juliet said. “They involve becoming friendly with some darker families. They don’t know who I am…” She let it hang. Her plan demanded that he proposed to her and they married. She would need his last name. It wouldn’t work otherwise. 

“You want to get behind the scenes?” Sirius asked. 

“If we can manage that we could cut down on casualties quite a lot. I could possibly insert most of my team,” Juliet said. "Though it is only one plan and not necessarily the one we'll use." 

“I’ll think about it,” Sirius said. 

They spent another hour or so discussing alternatives. Afterwards, Juliet sent off some coded messages. Making sure the Weasley family was safe was the priority right now. 

Amelia sighed. Her desk was full of papers. She had spent yet another day trying to convince the Wizengamot that Sirius was innocent. Convincing them about Harry hadn’t been that hard. Especially after she had found the one who sent the Dementors after the boy. She had been boiling with anger. One of the Minister’s secretaries had sent out one of the most dangerous creatures they had in Britain after a child. 

Another sigh left her lips. 

“You should let them know that Harry will never come back to Britain if his godfather isn’t cleared.”

Amelia looked up. A short woman with shoulder long orange hair stood in front of her desk suddenly. A pair of strange goggles adorned her head. In one hand she held a cage. Amelia had drawn her wand. “Alpha or Beta?” she asked. 

The woman smiled. “Alpha,” she said. “Juliet is right, you are good. I’m Rita Mordio.” She placed the cage on Amelia’s overfull desk. “Here is something that might convince people a little better. Try not to lose him will you.”

“Pettigrew?” Amelia asked.

“It is, yes.”

“Thank you,” Amelia said simply. “Why should I mention Harry?” she asked.

“Because some of them want Harry to come back,” Rita said. “We’ll hand you a list later. Right now they are better where they are. It’s easier than flushing out who the new ones would be.”

Amelia nodded slowly. She didn’t like it, but she understood Rita’s reasoning. “I’ll see if I can’t get this wrapped up next time the Wizengamot meets.”

“I wish you all the luck in the world. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with those doddering old fools,” Rita said. She turned around and disappeared. Her job was done. Hopefully, the rest would work out for the best.

Juliet looked through their mail as she walked up to the house. She opened one she had gotten from the USA Auror office. A smile spread over her lips. Sirius was finally considered a free man in Britain. She passed by the library.

“...but where does magic come from then?”

She stopped. Hermione and her friends were sitting together around a table. For once there were no books on the table in front of them. “If you really want to know that I could send for Cynn and Mhenlo they have been studying the matter for almost two decades now. Several non-magical governments asked us where magic comes from. They wanted to know if anyone could turn out to be magical or if it was hereditary. I think Cynn and Mhenlo have tracked several hundred no-mag born people’s ancestry. I haven’t asked them how they are doing in a while. I think they might even have decided to look into our family, but I really don’t care all that much so I haven’t asked about it.”

“Can you contact them?” Hermione asked. “I would really like to know.”

“Sure, I’ll go and do that now… do any of you know where Sirius is?”

“Outside,” Harry said. “He doesn’t like being locked up inside for too long.”

Juliet rolled her eyes. “I’ll find him later then,” she said. 

A few days later a slender woman in an ice blue dress with pale blonde hair and a man, bald with flowing tattoos along his scalp and down his arms, came to the manor. They were not members of the tactical teams, but rather researchers that worked for the UN magical division. She was a fire elemental mage and he a healer. They sat down with the teens having brought plenty of their work with them in large scrolls. 

“Magic as far as we have been able to tell comes from magical beings,” Cynn explained to them. “There is no dormant trait in humans that will produce magic, but they can have it coming from magical creatures. Many older magical families can even tell what creature they predominantly come from.”

“The Weasley family, for example, descends from dryads among other beings,” Mhenlo told Ron. “We were in contact with your grandfather many years ago when we first started out. He had records of his family.”

“Dryads aren’t they female? How come most Weasleys are male?” Ron asked. 

Cynn looked at her husband wondering if they really should tell him. “It dates back to your hostilities against the Malfoys,” he said. “As we understood it there was a marriage between the Weasley family, which then had mostly women in it and very fertile women at that, and the Malfoy family. We don’t know exactly what happened. But something went wrong and the Malfoys cursed the Weasley women to be infertile. Thankfully it didn’t quite work, but after that, the Weasley family has produced men.”

“But I have a sister,” Ron said. 

Cynn’s eyes widened. “Well,” she said thoughtfully. “The curse might be weakening. It is possible that the infusion of your mother’s blood has done something. She might also be a descendant of dryads. That could do it.”

Harry smiled at Ron. “I guess now we know why your family and the Malfoy’s hate each other,” he said. 

Ron shrugged. “It’s in the past,” he said. “I don’t like Malfoy because he is an arrogant prick.”

“True.” Harry looked at the two researchers. “Do you know anything about the Potters?” he asked. 

Mhenlo opened one of his scrolls up. He started searching through the myriad of names that were on there. “I think we got sent information from a Potter,” Cynn said. “And a request…” She thought it over. “For a Lily Evans,” Mhenlo said. “Here it is,” he said then. “Potters descend from many different families, but their clearest link is to the Peverell family. The Peverell were interlinked with a race of shapeshifters. We don’t know what they were actually called, but we strongly believe that animagus abilities come from these beings. It is also possible that many of the other families were descendants of Shapeshifters.”

“Lily Evans we actually tracked back to the Aylmer family. The family died out about a century ago, but it seems like one of their children disappeared into the no-mag world,” Cynn said. “We don’t know exactly what they descended from, however. Their family history wasn’t preserved.”

Harry smiled. He didn’t really care about that. His mother had been the descendant of a squib. Then something struck him. “The tactical teams were involved in the previous war too, weren’t they?” he asked. 

Cynn nodded. “The Alpha team was. They tried to do as much as they could. They had a lot on their plate, however, and didn’t focus as many people into it as they should have before it was too late. There wasn’t much they could have done for your parents since they had gone into hiding with the Fidelius charm,” she said. 

“You know quite a lot about them,” Hermione said carefully.

Cynn smiled. “We were members of Delta back in the day,” she said. “Then I got pregnant and we decided it wasn’t a good idea to continue.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Hermione said. 

“Either way, Juliet asked us to do the startup job for your family. We have created a family tree. There are several places where we lost the members and couldn’t find them when they were younger. That either means the records have burned or otherwise been destroyed, or the members entered the magical world from the non-magical one. Now we have to look over our magical records to try to find these people. You can help us with that. We have over the years gathered together magical family trees from families that agree with our research. With a little bit of luck we’ll be able to locate these people,” Cynn said. She together with her husband and Hermione quickly went to work. To begin with they restricted themselves to Britain and France since there were old family connections to that country. 

Harry and Ron tried to help but soon found that it would probably go faster for the other three if they weren’t in the way. They headed out of the library quietly leaving Hermione with the two researchers. Not that they didn’t do anything. They had plenty of other things that demanded their attention. 

Hermione’s eyes scanned the scrolls of names. She was looking for a Mary Norwell but wasn’t having much luck. At least she knew that Norwell was the woman’s maiden name. There were other women whose maiden names were unknown to them. Those would be much harder to trace. The idea was that if they could trace her back then there would be a blood test made that would check if she truly was related to the family. It would all be easier if they did their research first and then the tests. Her hair frizzed up and she lost track of time as they worked. 

Outside Sirius was wandering around nervously. His hand kept going to his pocket. His hair was put up in a low ponytail. His skin had a healthy tan. Long gone was the unhealthy grey and bony appearance he had spotted when he escaped Azkaban. He had filled out and grown healthy from his stay with the Beta team. Most of his nightmares had subdued, and he was learning how to deal with his regrets. Finally, he decided to just go talk to Juliet. He found her in the greenhouse taking care of the plants. “Juliet,” he said to catch her attention. 

The well-toned brunette stood up and turned towards him. “Yes, love,” she said. She wiped her hands off on a towel. 

Sirius pulled out a small box from his pocket. He opened it as he said, “Will you marry me Juliet Granger?” he asked. 

Juliet’s eyes widened. A soft smile spread over her lips. “Yes, Sirius,” she said. “I’d love to marry you.” She walked up to him and hugged him before giving him a long tender kiss. Sirius' arms wrapped around her. He hugged her close. 

“Whoa, get a room.”

Juliet moved away from Sirius slightly. She gave Jonathan a stern look. “Mind your own business. We’re not doing anything inappropriate and the plants don’t mind,” she told him. “But if you want to stay around and ogle my fiance and me go ahead. Just be quiet please.”

Jonathan blinked. “Fiance?” he asked surprised. 

Juliet rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I decided to grab her before someone else could try to woo her away from me,” Sirius said. 

Jonathan smirked. “Congratulations,” he said. 

Sirius chuckled. He took Juliet’s hand and led her out of the greenhouse. They needed some alone time. 

Juliet walked into the library later that day. Her sister was sitting with a notebook and a huge scroll. “It’s dinner now,” Juliet told her. “You can go back to researching after you have eaten.” She walked forward and pulled the scroll out of Hermione’s hands. “Food is now,” she said gently. 

“She’s right,” Cynn said. “We can continue after we’ve eaten.” She rose from her seat. Food did sound like a really good idea. She followed the sisters downstairs. She sat down next to Sonja. Juliet passed her a bowl filled with papaya salad. Her eyes caught on a beautiful amethyst adorned ring. “He asked you?” she said. Everyone's attention turned to Juliet. Sirius chuckled. “I proposed to Juliet earlier today,” he said. 

“And I said yes,” Juliet said. 

There was a multitude of congratulations. Hermione hugged her sister. 

  
  
  


“The wedding will be held this autumn,” Juliet said. “I need to get my parents here and we need to get a hold of a marriage officiant.” She looked at Sirius. “We should invite Remus as well. Then we have everyone that really matters.”

“You’ll have to write the marriage contract,” Sirius said. “If it is supposed to be a proper wedding there has to be a contract since I am technically a member of a Most Ancient and Noble house.”

“You are technically the Lord,” Juliet said. 

“Yeah, I know,” Sirius said. He figured maybe he should do something about that. He wasn’t too interested, but the idea of making Juliet Lady Black would really piss his mother’s portrait off. His cousins wouldn’t really like it either once they found out. All except for Andromeda of course. The more he thought about it the better it sounded to him. 

Around the table, pleasant talk flowed. They ate and drank until everyone was satisfied. Most of them stayed outside. Hermione, however, did not. She headed back to the library so she could continue searching. Her eyes scanned the many names. She knew there was no way she could go through all of them in a single day, but she wanted to get as much work done as possible. 

Later that evening her eyes kept falling shut. She had to shake herself back awake time and time again. A soft warm hand landed on her shoulder. “Time to go to bed Mione.” Hermione looked up into her sister’s soft brown eyes and nodded. She was too tired to respond. She placed the scroll aside and stood up. Juliet supported her on the way to her room. She even tucked her in. 

“Good night,” Juliet said before closing the door. 

…

“We found it… we found it!” 

Hermione came rushing into the kitchen where her sister was helping Melonni with dinner. She had a thrilled smile on her face and a piece of parchment in her hand. She handed it over to Juliet. “Here look,” she said. 

Juliet rolled the parchment open. It confirmed that her sister was a descendant of the Chevalier family. She chuckled. 

“What is it?” Hermione asked. 

Juliet handed back the paper. “We’re related to Celestine’s family.” She met Melonni’s eyes. “I’m related to Jonathan,” she said. 

Melonni started laughing hysterically. She had to grab onto one of the counters just to stay standing. “Oh, poor you,” she said between gasps for air. 

“We should let Celestine know,” Juliet said. “This perfectly explains how come I am a Water Mage. It is fairly common in their family. 

“What so funny in here?”

Melonni took one look at the new addition in the kitchen before she started laughing again. 

Jonathan looked confused. He looked at Juliet seeking an answer. 

“Turns out we’re family,” Juliet said. “Hermione and I descend from the Chevalier family.”

“Like mom,” Jonathan said with a smile. “That’s awesome. They’ll love adding you to the family. Mother would have loved daughters. You’ll never hear the end of it. I should probably let her know as soon as possible. She doesn’t like it when people keep these types of things from her.” He glanced at Melonni. “She’s really having fun,” he said. “I hope she doesn’t choke.”

“She’ll be fine,” Juliet said. 

That evening, everyone who was present at the Manor got to know what Hermione, Mhenlo and Cynn had found out. Celestine happily welcomed them to the family. Then she turned to Sirius. “You better take care of her Mister Black,” she said. “You will make powerful enemies otherwise. We are very protective of our young.”

Sirius smiled. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything else,” he said. He wasn't worried. 

A light breeze slowly shifted the big colourful leaves of the nearby trees. The beach was covered in crystalline flowers that were glowing in the evening sun. A small group of people were gathered together on the beach. Calm conversations passed between them. Then a gleaming silver bell rang followed by serene violin music. Together a beautiful bride and a nervous groom came walking down a white-clothed aisle. She was wearing a simple blue sundress, and he wore suit pants and a shirt. There was no reason to dress up more than that. 

They passed their friends and family and walked up to the officiator. 

“Dear people we have gathered here today to witness the union between Juliet Marie Granger and Lord Sirius Orion Black. We ask now for the blessing of the elements,” the officiate said calmly. “We beg for the power of the flame of the East. The warmth of hearth and home. The heat of the heart’s passion. The light created to guide us through the darkest of times. Fresh beginnings with the rising of each Sun. ”

Fire burned in a circle on the ground around the couple. It wasn’t hot but brimming with power. 

“We request the blessing of the wind of the South. Communication of the heart, mind, and body. Bearer of news. The knowledge of the growth found in the sharing of silence.”

Wind blew up around them carrying leaves on its wisps. 

“We ask for the blessing of the water of the West. The deep commitments of the lake. The swift excitement of the river. The refreshing cleansing of the rain. The all-encompassing passion of the sea.”

A grand wave moved up from the sea and froze above their heads.

“We hope for the blessing of the earth of the North. A firm foundation on which to build. The fertility of the fields to enrich our lives. A stable home to which you may always return.”

The sands moved and beautiful flowers grew up around the couple. 

“Do you, Sirius Orion Black, welcome Juliet Marie Granger as your wife, offering her your love and encouragement, your trust and respect, as together you create your future?  
  
“I do,” Sirius said. He smiled at Juliet.

“Do you, Juliet Marie Granger welcome Sirius Orion Black as your husband, offering him your love and encouragement, your trust and respect, as together you create your future.”  
  
“I do,” Juliet said.

“So I bestow upon you the blessing of the elements and with the signing of this contract declare you husband and wife,” the officiator said as he held out the marriage contract Juliet had written since that was the common way for a Lord or Lady in Britain to be wedded. They both signed it calmly. They knew what it said. 

“And so I declare you Lord and Lady Black,” the officiator said finally. “May your union last through sadness and happiness.”

Then the wave above them broke and rained down over them like tiny crystals. The fire rose. The officiate left as the elements reigned. He was done. He would file the contract both in the states and Britain just in case. He had never seen the elements respond as they had done that day before. Especially the sea. He knew that many of those people were elemental mages, but he also knew none of them had used their abilities. It would have cheapened the ceremony. 

On the beach, a feast had been brought out. Caroline Granger hugged her daughter. “Are you coming home soon?” she asked. 

Sirius standing behind his wife chuckled. “I do believe she will,” he said. “My wedding gift to her is a rather nice house with large grounds and a building for her Betas.”

Juliet turned to look wide-eyed at her husband. “Sirius,” she said. “Why?” Her voice was questioning, almost small. 

“I figured you wanted to go back to Britain with Hermione and the others. I don’t want to live in my parents’ old place so I found a nice patch of land and had a house built there. Then I realised that you are the leader of the Beta squad. I had another house built as a gathering place for you. I know it might have been better with one building, but then again I think keeping work and free time a bit separate is probably good,” he said. 

“I…” Juliet smiled. “That sounds lovely,” she said. 

“Don’t worry I haven’t furnished it. If you would like to do that you can go right ahead. I just want it to be homey,” Sirius said. 

“I think I can manage,” Juliet said with a smile. She internally groaned as her mother started giving her all sorts of advice. She didn’t need help. It wasn’t her mother’s house after all. Thankfully, Sirius dragged her off rather quickly so they could enjoy their wedding night. 


	3. A Wonderful Weasley Wedding

Hermione sat with her written NEWT test in Transfiguration. It was the last test before she was done with them all. She looked over her answers one last time. Then she placed the papers down. She was finished. There was nothing she could do to improve her answers more. She rose and left the room. As her eyes had glanced over the room before she left, she'd seen that both Harry and Ron were reviewing their answers as well. She estimated that they would be out soon. 

They were going back to Britain in a week or two. Juliet and Sirius were back in the UK getting the house ready. Hermione, Ron and Harry would be staying with them for the last stretch of the summer before school started up. They had some ideas to go over together. Their current plan was to get as many students away from Voldemort as possible. Hopefully, they could do it. 

“Uh, I’m glad that is over,” Ron said after the door closed behind him. He stretched. “It wasn’t too bad though.”

Hermione smiled. She liked how Ron had changed. He truly cared about learning now. He’d never been as lazy as most people though, but he hadn’t really cared about doing well in school either. Much like the twins who cared more about their inventions. Now, however, Ron wanted to learn. He found joy in finding new information and researching. What he really loved, however, was working on strategies. It had always been something he was good at. He’d just gotten better with guidance from Juliet and the rest of the team. “I guess we should get back to the manor,” she said as Harry joined them. She saw no reason for them to stay any longer than necessary in the States. It was nice and all, but all three of them felt just a bit out of place. 

“So what do we do now?” Ron asked after they had port-keyed back to the manor. 

Harry shrugged. “We have to wait for Sirius and Juliet to come back here,” he said. “So…” he thought about it for a moment, “how about taking a hike? It’s been a while, and we won’t be able to do it again for a while.” He looked out towards the forest. They had spent hours out there in the underbrush. Juliet had taken them to the forest to teach them survival skills. It had also allowed them to use some of their knowledge in Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. The forest was filled with dangerous plants and even more dangerous beasts. It was a reserve of some kind so they weren’t allowed to harm anything. A small smile played over Harry’s lips. It was a lot of fun travelling through the forest. He especially liked the old ruins. They had never spent that much time in those. Maybe they could do so now. 

Two days later the trio was heading out. They apparated to one of the safe-spots in the jungles so they wouldn't have to walk the entire way. Slowly, they headed for the closest ruin. The vegetation slowed their steps. This had once been the land of an ancient people few knew anything about. Their culture may have been killed by the white man, but their buildings still stood. 

Harry hissed at a couple of laceheads to calm them down as they passed close to their nests. He convinced them that his friends and himself were no danger to them. 

Ron led them to a clearing in the trees. It wasn’t common to find clearings since the trees around there shot for the sky whenever they could. An old temple was slowly being overcome by the plants of the jungle. Ron stepped carefully as he headed up to a darkened entrance. “That’s pitch black,” he pointed out as he drew his wand. “Lumos,” he lit the tip of his wand up to guide him. “Are we heading in?” he asked. The Beta team had warned them. These ruins could be very dangerous.

“Only if we’re careful,” Hermione said.

Ron nodded. “I’ll walk first. That way if there are traps, I’ll trigger them and you can deal with them or get the Beta team,” he said. 

Hermione huffed. She wasn't too happy about that plan, but she knew there was no talking him out of it. She walked up the crumbling stairs behind him and lit her own wand. Ron started heading down. The sounds of the forest faded. He cast several detection charms used in curse-breaking as he went. They passed several empty rooms and found nothing special. Hermione studied the walls. Scripts she couldn't read would sometimes mar the heavy stone. She wondered what it said. 

Suddenly, Ron raised a hand to stop her. He shifted his hand and a sparkling golden Jack Russell Terrier came rushing out of his wand.

“Dementor?” Hermione asked.

“I highly doubt that,” Ron said. “It is a little too warm around here. But remember there is the tropical equivalent.”

“Do you think a Patronus is enough to deal with that?” Hermione asked as she thought back on their lessons on the Lethifold.

“It will stun it for a while at least,” Ron said. He looked around. “Didn't Harry come with us?” He just then realised that it was only the two of them there. 

“No, I think he was talking to some snakes,” Hermione said. She bit her bottom lip sheepishly. They hadn't told Harry they were heading down. That maybe hadn't been the best idea. Maybe they should head back? She looked towards the entrance. 

"He'll show up," Ron said convincingly. 

Hermione nodded before she continued following him. They were heading deeper and deeper. It was getting colder as they kept on walking. Hermione cast a charm on herself to keep warm.

Ron pushed a heavy stone door open. He raised his wand high. He couldn't see the far wall. He walked in slowly. A shrill scream had him turning around. His eyes widened. Long thin fingers were grabbing on to Hermione. The greyish skin looked like it was slowly rotting away. He threw a stunner at the being.

Hermione tore herself loose. She raised her wand as the room lit up. Flames were moving towards them. She cast her own spell towards the inferius. The undead man caught fire. She hurried over to Ron, and they layered shields against the firewall moving towards them.

The flames died down before they reached the two. All that was left was pools of fire where inferi lay burning. A great ball of light was cast to the ceiling, illuminating the room.

On the other side of the rooms stood Harry surrounded by serpents.

“Are you insane?” Ron asked him.

Harry shrugged. “How would I know,” he said. “The insane seldom know they are crazy.”

“You could have burned us alive!” Ron said.

“Sure, with your training,” Harry said. “I’m certain you were protected enough to walk through lava.”

Hermione smiled. Harry was right of course. That didn't mean she didn't agree with Ron to a certain extent, but she knew they would have made it just fine.

“So, there were inferi down here,” Harry said. “That’s interesting I guess.”

“How did you get down here?” Ron asked. 

“The snakes showed me a back door. They were speaking of a cold hunger that never slept. They sounded scared so I decided to take a look at it,” Harry said with a shrug. 

“Maybe we should stick together from now on,” Hermione said.

“Sounds like an idea,” Harry agreed.

There wasn't much else in the temple. They found sleeping quarters, but that was about it. They were glad that the sun hadn't yet reached its peak when they exited the temple. It was bright enough as it was. It took them all a bit of time to get used to the light again after the sheer darkness of the temple. 

Harry said goodbye to the snakes, and the three of them headed onwards.

Hermione raced her wand to scare off a jaguar. They were not easy food and would not be presented as such. Her hazelnut brown eyes scanned the forest around them. With Harry around, they didn't need to worry about snakes, but that didn't mean they were safe from all other dangerous animals out there. “People,” she whispered softly. Hopefully, the locals hadn't noticed them yet. 

There was no guarantee they could communicate with each other. It was fairly uncommon to find someone who spoke English around the manor. Acting quickly, she had pulled her wand and disillusioned herself as soon as she had warned the others. She now blended in with the greens and browns of the trees and bushes around them. They reached a small clearing filled with saplings and big colourful flowers. A tall tree had fallen not too long ago, and the forest was reaching for the sun as quickly as it could. 

Hermione smiled. Things like this made her envious of her sister. How many wonders of nature hadn’t Juliet seen in her travels? She sighed. One day she would get a proper chance to travel herself. She wanted to walk where humans seldom set foot. She wanted to see things few had ever seen. Sure, she enjoyed visiting cities, but nature was so much more beautiful. She blinked. “What is that?” she asked and pointed.

Harry looked over to the flowers she had motioned to. His eyes narrowed. “It looks like a snitch,” he said slowly.

“It’s a snidget,” Ron said, his voice filled with awe. “Those are what the snitches were modelled after.” He took a few steps forward. “Most people claim they have gone extinct.”

“Well, there obviously are some here,” Hermione said. “Though it’s probably best we never tell anyone where we saw them. They are better off that way.”

Ron nodded vigorously. “Absolutely,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t go a bit closer, right?” He walked into the glade slowly. He hoped he wouldn't scare the tiny birds off. He really wanted to get a closer look.

On fluttering wings, the snidgets buzzed around happy. Their tiny fluffy feathers moved like the top of dandelion seeds in the breeze. They bolted around catching bugs as they went. Tiny beaks turned towards Ron as he got closer. It was impossible to tell exactly where their heads stopped and their bodies started. They look like fluffy golden balls. Ron kneeled down and held out a hand. A smile spread across his face as several of the tiny birds flew over to his palm. They didn't land, but their soft feathers brushed him.

Hermione smiled. She wished she had brought a camera. It wasn't often Ron looked so carefree. He was truly happy. Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. He was pointing to the edge of the trees. Hermione's eyes widened. “Shield, Ron!” she shouted. 

Harry had already pulled his own wand. The red light of a stunner travelled in between the trees.

Spell shattered against the shimmering dome of Ron’s shield. He watched in amazement as the snidgets all flew into the safety bubble he had created. 

Harry had taken up a position next to Ron. They didn't know how many people were out there so their best chance was to defend their position. Hermione had contacted the manor; they needed more people. Snidgets were considered off-limits. Unfortunately, their rarity meant that they fetched a good price with poachers. Harry had raised a shield too. He hoped the poachers couldn't find the birds’ eggs.

Screams echoed between the trees suddenly. The Beta team must have arrived. Melonni came walking into the glade as the shouting died down. She cast a glance at the tiny birds. “Are you alright?” she asked the teens. 

“We’re fine,” Ron answered. “They weren’t that good at aiming.”

“And their spells were weak,” Harry added.

“Good, good,” Melloni said. She looked around the glade and sighed. “We’re going to have to move them,” she said as she indicated to the birds. “They won’t be safe here.”

“Do we have anywhere they will feel at home, though?” Ron asked. He wanted to make sure that the snidgets would be alright. 

“We can always expand to accommodate them,” Melloni said. “Argo will take care of it.”

“Well, I want to help,” Ron said, determined.

Melonni chuckled. “Sure, go ahead,” she said. “I’m certain he wouldn't mind. Thankfully, he arrived at the Manor just an hour and a half ago.”

The teens’ travels were cut short that day. They did head out again a few days before Harry’s birthday, but nothing much happened except for the fact that a young emerald tree boa decided that he wanted to travel with Harry. So now Zant was a part of their little group. 

Day after day Ron would spend time with the snidgets they had saved. The little birds flourished in their new home. They seemed aware of the fact that they were safe, and they were completely unafraid of humans. Ron was sitting in the bird sanctuary just watching them. It was soothing. His mind calmed. He knew he would miss them. He, Harry and Hermione would be heading back to Britain after Harry’s birthday. It was time to go back home. 

“Last call, is that we have found two Horcruxes,” Sonja said as they had their last meeting before the move. The Beta team was moving as well. Their new Headquarters stood ready for them. The Villa would be the new basecamp. 

“Two that’s good,” Hermione said.

Juliet nodded. “One was destroyed by Harry when he was twelve, and I have sources telling me that Voldemort’s snake is one,” she noted.

“So, that’s four of them,” Hermione said. “Say Voldemort himself counts, are we done? Did he have five pieces?”

Nate shook his head. “We found a cave where one must have been,” he said. “It wasn’t there anymore, but there was a copy left behind with a note.” He pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to Juliet.

“To the Dark Lord,” Juliet read. “I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.” She looked up at the group. “It is signed R.A.B.” she said. 

“R.A.B.” Sirius said. 

“Yeah,” Juliet nodded. 

“Regulus Arcturus Black,” Sirius said. “That one could be in Grimmauld Place.” He looked at the note for a moment. Had his brother defected? Had Regulus seen through Voldemort’s drivel and tried to stop him? It made him wish he had spoken to his brother more.

“We’ll check on that one when we get back then,” Juliet said. 

“That would leave one if he used seven,” Hermione said. “I doubt he used more than that. Five and seven are quite common as magically strong numbers.”

“I also doubt he has made more,” Pauline said.

“It could be at Hogwarts,” Harry pointed out. “Voldemort has some kind of obsession with the school. We should look for it there.”

“Sounds good,” Sonja said. “We’ll check some other leads out, but at least there is a plan now. I think the snake is going to have to be the last one.”

“I have a guy on it,” Juliet said. “When I give the sign, he’ll kill the serpent and disappear.”

Ron sat silently and listened. Everything seemed to be coming together. Maybe a little too easily, but then again, they were dealing with professionals. This wasn’t the Beta teams’ first rodeo. He trusted that they knew what they were doing. To be frank, Voldemort and his Death Eaters weren't what scared Ron the most about going back. His mother was going to be so angry. He didn’t look forward to getting yelled at. 

The meeting broke up and people returned to their own tasks. A big shift was about to take place. The Beta team was leaving the Alpha Manor. Things would change, but the change was necessary. Both teams would be expanding. The Beta team would always be younger than the Alpha team. The members would be moving on as time passed. 

Times were changing.

Harry took one last look at the room he had spent the last two years in. He would miss the Manor, though, it felt good going back to Britain. It felt like they could make a difference now. He wasn’t a scared little kid in over his head anymore. He lifted his bag up and walked over to the door. He would be staying with Sirius and Juliet. Hermione was going to spend some time with her parents, and Ron was at least going to visit his family. Harry flipped the light switch and headed outside. Hermione and Ron joined him on the way downstairs. 

“All ready?” Juliet asked as they joined her on the beach in front of the manor. 

Hermione sighed and nodded. “Yes, let’s go,” she said. 

Juliet smiled softly. “You are going to miss this place,” she said. She got three saddened nods in return. “Me too,” she said with a shrug. She looked over at the manor house. “But this is just a building. We are bringing most of the important people along. What makes this place feel like home is coming with us.” She held out a port-key. “Let’s go home,” she said. “You’ll like it. I can guarantee it.”

Sirius had already headed over a few days earlier. Most of their people had moved as well. They had chosen to bring the teens in last for security reasons. Juliet had wanted her team to make sure the area was safe. Goblins were trustworthy enough when you paid them, but her team was better and would do a better job. 

The port-key activated. The world around them started spinning. The bright sun faded to a low burning sunset. 

Ron looked around as they landed. They were standing next to a sturdy looking log house. Blue curtains hung in the windows. A little further away lay a bigger building. Next to it a tower rose towards the sky. It had to be the Villa and guard tower. “So that’s the new headquarters,” he said. 

Juliet nodded as she answered, “Yes, that’s the Villa.” She moved on ahead. “You can choose if you want to stay in the Villa or with Sirius and I,” she offered. “It is fully up to you.”

The three teens looked at each other for a moment. “We’ll stay in the Villa,” Hermione said. “It will feel more familiar and makes more sense for now.”

“We have rooms set aside for you already,” Juliet said. “If you go over there, I’m sure someone can point you in the right direction. I have some things that demand my attention so I will leave you for now.” She turned to her little sister. “Mom and dad expect us in two hours,” she said. 

“Okay,” Hermione responded before Juliet left.

The teens headed over to the Villa. “I’ll probably wait until tomorrow to head over to the Burrow,” Ron said as they entered the house. “I don’t feel like getting yelled at right now, and I might as well give her plenty of time to do so when I show up.”

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They didn't envy Ron. 

It didn’t take them long to find their rooms which looked very much like the rooms they had lived in at the Manor. The building was very different, and the view wasn’t as good. It wasn’t bad though. They had missed good old grass. The Villa was a single floor building that stretched out over quite a lot of land. The three of them spent some time walking around and orienting themselves. It would be good for them to know where things were. The Beta team kept to the same style as the Alpha team, so it felt just like home. Everything was very clean-cut and efficient. 

Hermione left the other two to their own devices sometime later so she could join up with her sister and apparate them to their parents’ house. Their father had cooked whole chicken and homemade fries with a big salad. “It’s nice to see you again girls,” Caroline Granger said as they walked in. She hugged Hermione and then Juliet. “How is married life treating you?” she asked. 

“Quite well, mother,” Juliet said. “He can be a bit of a child sometimes, but we’re happy.”

Caroline laughed. “Oh, don’t I know it,” she said. “You get used to it. Don’t worry too much. It’s good to keep some of that joyful spirit.”

Hermione smiled. She headed into the kitchen before the other two and hugged her father. 

“Hello sunshine,” Dan said. “How are you doing?”

“Good, we’re getting ready to go back to school. It’s going to be a bit different since we’re not really going to school to learn. We already have our grades after all,” Hermione said. “It is going to be a bit tricky. Unless everything changes of course. Our plans are pretty fluid.”

They sat down by the kitchen table to enjoy a calm meal with the family. It had been too long since the last time. The conversation lulled back and forth between topics. It was nice being home. 

It was everything Ron knew he wouldn’t have as he headed over to the Burrow the following morning. He walked up the path slowly. The house looked as ready to collapse as ever. Ron sighed. He knew his mother well enough to know that she would scream at him despite the letters he had been sending. He knocked on the front door. Technically, he could have just opened the door since he was still, on paper at least, living with his parents, but it wouldn’t feel right for him to do so. 

When the door finally opened, it was Ginny standing there. She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s about time you came home,” she said acidly. 

Ron raised an eyebrow. He had known his mother would be angry with him, but Ginny he hadn’t counted on. Mostly because he couldn’t fathom why she was angry. It wasn’t like they had ever been particularly close. Or they hadn’t been before the summer when he had run off. He took a leap of faith and guessed the reason. “So you’re pissed off that we took off without you, huh sis,” he said. He shook his head. “They wouldn’t have taken you in. They barely accepted the three of us because of our age. Hermione got us in.”

“She could have gotten me in too,” Ginny hissed. 

Nailed it. “Possibly but I doubt it,” Ron said. “Besides you’re acting like Fred and George always let you in on their ideas. We are brother and sister. The only reason we spent time together that summer was because mother decided to lock us all up in a house and not let us out.”

“Who is it Ginny?” their mother called from the kitchen. 

“It’s my idiotic big brother!” Ginny responded. 

Mere seconds later Ron was pulled into a hug. He hugged his mother back. She moved away from him and held him at arm's length so she could get a good look at him. “You’re too thin,” she said. 

Ron hummed. He wasn't thin. He was well trained. His mother just had some strange ideas about body size. 

“We have been worried about you,” Mrs Weasley said. “How could you just take off like that. You could have been killed! There are Death Eaters out there! And what about your education? How are you supposed to get a good job with no grades.” She was working herself up. “No respect for the ones that raised you. Some measly letters that’s all! And here you stand like nothing happened!” Her face was getting red. She was working herself into a frenzy. 

Ron knew better than to speak up against her. She wouldn’t listen to him. He just let her go on until she had shouted herself hoarse. 

Bill showed up as Molly was going on. “Hello, Ron,” he said. “It’s nice to see you. Where have you been?”

“I’ve been receiving special training,” Ron answered. “We had some really good instructors. You might know of one of them. She is a Curse-Breaker. Melonni Farish.”

Bill’s eyes widened. “Farish!” he exclaimed. “She is one of the best in the field. How did you end up learning from her?”

“Hermione’s sister is her boss,” Ron said with a shrug. 

Bill almost looked like he wanted to beg Ron to take him to see Melonni. The older redhead pulled himself together though. “I’m glad you are back,” he said instead. “It wouldn’t have felt right to get married without my brothers present. It is bad enough Percy won’t show up.”

“You are getting married?” Ron asked. He was surprised but happy for his big brother. He noticed that their mother had fallen silent. She must have realised he wasn’t listening.

“Yeah, you remember the French champion from the Triwizard Tournament?” Bill said. 

“Fleur Delacour,” Ron said. “Pretty girl, quite smart. Made me act a fool since she’s part Veela.” He smiled. 

Bill laughed and nodded. “We met a few times after the third task and then we started dating,” he said. 

“Congratulations,” Ron said as he slapped Bill on the shoulder. 

“You’ll come right?” Bill said. 

“Obviously, I’d be honoured to be there,” Ron said. 

Bill smiled. He looked around. “How about we move inside,” he suggested. “It’s rather strange for members of a family to have discussions on the doorstep.” He placed a hand on Ron’s shoulder and walked inside. They settled down by the kitchen table. “So, you have been training?” he said. 

“Yeah, someone has to deal with the whole Death Eater situation we have going on,” Ron said. 

Mrs Weasley looked disapprovingly at her son. “You should let the grown-ups deal with You-Know-Who,” she said. 

Ron smiled calmly and shook his head. “They have had two years to do something. I’m seventeen now; I am a grown-up. Now it is my turn,” he said. “We have trained for this.”

“Harry and Hermione are in on this as well?” Bill asked.

“Yepp,” Ron responded. “And most of our teachers are here. We’re setting things up.” He leaned back. 

“You have a plan of action then,” Bill said. 

“We have several,” Ron said. 

“Ronald you are back ‘ome!”

Ron turned and smiled at Fleur. “Hello Fleur,” he said. He stood up and walked over to her so he could give her a hug. He could sense her allure hanging like an aura around her, but it no longer affected him. “You look great,” he complimented her as he hugged her. 

Fleur giggled. “You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said while winking. He had changed a lot from the lanky teen that hadn’t even been able to talk to her without stuttering like an idiot. She knew her allure affected men. It was nice to meet guys who weren’t affected and it seems like Ron had overcome his weakness for her allure. They moved over to the table and Ron pulled out a chair for her. She sat down. “My such a gentleman,” she said.

“I have worked on my manners over the years,” Ron said. “I figured out people are easier to deal with if you are polite.”

“So, you are finally back?” Fleur asked. 

“Yes, we returned yesterday,” Ron said. 

“‘Arry came with you?” Fleur asked.

Ron raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, he came back with me,” he answered. 

“Bon, ‘e is invited to ze wedding. Plus one if ‘e would like,” Fleur said. “Zat goes for you as well of course.” She assumed Bill had already invited his brother. “Gabrielle would really like to see ‘Arry again. She is a bit smitten wiz ‘im.”

Ron chuckled. “I’ll let him know,” he said. “When is the wedding?”

“Ze eighth of August,” Fleur said.

“Any colour code I need to think of?” Ron asked. 

“Oui,” Fleur said. “Ze bridesmaids will wear gold. If you bring ladies zey should not wear gold.”

“I’ll remember that thank you,” Ron said. 

“Do you even have someone to bring?” Ginny asked almost acidly.

“Hermione,” Ron answered calmly. “Or Sonja or Melonni or Pauline. Whoever wants to go, but most likely Hermione.”

Ginny looked put out. The Ron that had returned was not as easy to rile up as the Ron that ran away.

Ron stayed for another few hours talking mostly with Bill and Fleur. He ate dinner with his family and spoke some with his father after dinner. Arthur wasn’t angry with him. The letters seemed to have been enough for him. He had known Ron was doing alright. 

As it was getting later Mrs Weasley came over to them. “Your brother is using your room right now,” she said. “I’m sure you could double up…”

Ron smiled at her. “I’ll go back to headquarters, mother. You don’t have to worry. There is plenty of space there for me,” he said before standing up. “Speaking of which, it’s probably time to get back.”

“The Burrow isn’t good enough for you anymore,” Mrs Weasley said accusingly.

“Of course it is, but you don’t have space for me here, and I have my own place,” Ron said with a sigh. “If you need my help with the wedding prep please let me know.” He hugged her and shook his father’s hand. “I will see you again soon,” he said. He headed outside and apparated away. 

Molly looked after her youngest son. “They grow up so fast,” she whispered. 

“And we should let them,” Arthur said. “It is good that he is acting responsibly.”

“Everything went well?” Harry asked as Ron came walking into the living room in the Villa. 

“Yeah, it was alright. Mother got to vent. I didn’t listen to half of it. She just wanted to scream for a bit,” Ron said. “Ginny was angry with me. I don’t really get why.”

“That sounds strange,” Harry said as he placed down the book he had been reading. “Why was she angry?”

“She didn’t like that we didn’t bring her along,” Ron said with a shrug. 

Harry shook his head. “I barely know her. She’s your little sister, and she only interacted with Hermione because she didn’t have any of her own friends around. Why is she angry we didn’t include her?”

Ron sat down in an armchair with a flop. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe Hermione or Juliet can explain it to us.” He leaned back and got comfortable. “Bill and Fleur are getting married,” he said. “Fleur invited you. You can bring someone if you'd like.”

Harry chuckled. “Who would I bring?” he asked. “It isn’t like we spent two years chasing girls.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “No, but I was thinking of bringing Hermione,” he said. 

Harry considered what Ron had said for a moment before he started smirking. “I doubt Sirius is invited,” he said. He knew that Mrs Weasley didn’t like Sirius all that much.

“Not as far as I know,” Ron said. “It isn’t like he knows either Fleur or Bill.”

“I wonder if he would let me bring my adoptive mother to the wedding,” Harry said before he burst out laughing.

“He adopted you?” Ron asked while also holding back his own mirth. 

Harry nodded. Sirius had really wanted to adopt him and Harry hadn’t seen a reason to say no. Sirius was as close to a father as he would ever get. Sure, it was a bit strange that his adoptive mother was only five years older than him, but he didn’t care and neither did she. 

“Wait,” Ron said once he had finally stopped laughing. “That means, Hermione is your Aunt.”

Their eyes met and they collapsed with laughter. 

Juliet walked in to find the two young men lying on the floor shaking and breathing heavily. “Hello, Harry and Ron,” she said loudly to overpower their laughter. 

“Hello, Juliet,” Ron choked out. He sat up and clutched at his stomach.

Harry sat up as well and wiped tears from his eyes. “Hi, mother,” he said. 

Ron collapsed laughing again, but Harry managed to keep a straight face.

Juliet just shook her head. “I just came to let you guys know that Sirius and I are heading for Grimmauld Place tomorrow morning if either of you would like to come along,” she informed them. 

Harry’s facial expression turned serious immediately. “I’m coming along,” he said. If nothing else, he wanted to be there for Sirius. He knew how much his father disliked that house.

“Make sure to be up and ready by nine, then,” Juliet said. “That’s when we’re leaving.”

“Will do,” Harry said. 

Juliet walked back out of the living room. She had a meeting with one of her undercover agents to take care of. She headed over to Sirius’ flying motorcycle. Hagrid had dropped it off for him, and he had fixed it up while she had made sure the Beta Villa was up to par. She turned the key and squeezed the clutch. She flipped a switch. Both she and the bike went invisible. 

The feeling of freedom that accompanied driving a motorcycle for Juliet was easily doubled when she drove it to the skies. She had no idea how Sirius had managed to make the bike fly, but what truly astounded her was the fact that it still felt like she had traction. The sky was slowly darkening. Little towns and farms rolled by beneath the bike. She slowed down as she reached Wortham Ling. She landed smoothly and stepped off the bike. 

A shadowy figure moved between the trees. “I almost didn’t think you would come,” he said quietly. 

“You should know by now that I always show up,” Juliet said. “It takes me a bit longer to get places than a witch or wizard, though.” She smiled softly. “How’s the wife doing?” she asked. 

“Well enough,” he said. He ran a hand through his hair. He had fallen in love with a squib a year and a half after he’d joined the Death Eaters. She knew what he was now, but he hadn’t dared to tell her before he had found a way to make things right. Somehow Juliet had found him. She had offered him a way out … or a job as an undercover agent. He had been so full of himself when he had joined the Death Eaters. He had believed in pureblood supremacy. Now, he thought purebloods were just scared because mixed-blood seemed more powerful than them. 

“You are worried for her,” Juliet said. He had fallen silent and retreated into himself for a moment. She figured she might as well give him some time, but they couldn’t stay forever. 

He nodded. “She hasn’t been feeling well lately,” he said. He shook his head. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep her safe. HE hasn’t paid that much attention to me, but he is very good at Legilimency.”

Juliet removed a chain with a small pendant from a pocket. “Give this to her,” she said. “It will take her straight to headquarters if she ends up in danger.” She gave him a stern look. “If that happens your first priority is to get to safety. If you can take the serpent out then do that, but it is more important that you get out alive. Your life is more important than the mission,” she said. 

He offered her a quick smile. “Understood ma’am,” he said as he saluted. He turned serious again very quickly. “How much longer do you think it will be?” he asked. 

“We will be done within a year,” Juliet answered. “Hopefully, I can give you the order before Christmas, but that will lock you to Headquarters for a while. We could use the death of the snake as a way to infuriate him and make him act before he is ready.”

He sighed. “At least it will be over soon,” he said. 

“Do you need more potions?” Juliet asked. They made pain relievers that would also heal cruciatus damage for him. They didn’t want him to end up with permanent damage because of his mission if they could avoid it. 

“It wouldn’t hurt,” he said. “I am running low.”

Juliet nodded as she turned. She walked back to the bike. From one of the side bags, she pulled a case filled with vials. She carried it back to her agent. “Be careful,” she said. “And keep track of our priorities.”

“Will do,” he said. He disappeared in between the trees in the shadows of the leaves. He apparated back home. 

“So what did she say?” his wife asked.

“It is over within a year, but hopefully my involvement is over by Christmas,” he answered. 

“They can’t act faster?” she asked. 

“There are preparations that need to be made for this kind of thing to work out,” he said. “At least she and her people are trying.” He pulled the thin golden chain that Juliet had given. “I want you to wear this,” he said. “It will take you to safety if something happens.”

She eyed the chain. “What about you?” she asked.

“I have an emergency port-key,” he said. “My orders are to stay alive above all else. I’ll be fine. I just want you to be safe too.”

She sighed. “Fine,” she said. 

While the couple argued, Juliet was heading back home. She took a bit of a detour. She slowed down and drifted. Everything seemed so much easier when you got an overhead perspective. 

Tomorrow was another day. 

…

Harry walked out of the Villa the following morning. He met up with Juliet and a yawning Sirius outside of their house. 

“We’ll land right outside,” Sirius said after they had gotten through the usual morning pleasantries. 

“See you there then,” Harry said before apparating away. He landed on a desolate street. A dark eyebrow rose. The Black Family home lay on a run down no-mag street? It surprised him. Trash cluttered the porch of number eleven, and number thirteen was overrun by rose bushes growing wildly. A soft pop behind him alerted him to Sirius and Juliet’s arrival. 

Sirius had a disgusted look on his face. He sighed heavily. “Let’s get this over with,” he said as he started walking towards number twelve Grimmauld Place. It had been his childhood home, but he held no love for it. If he could burn the house down, he would do it in a second. There had been a Fidelius Charm placed on the house so no one could find it while the Order of the Phoenix had inhabited it. Sirius had asked them kindly to leave, and he had removed the charm last time he had been in the country. It stood empty now. Well, Krecher was still there, but apart from him, there wasn’t a soul in the building. Sirius opened the front door and walked inside. The entrance hall was dark and musky. He lit the lamps and a faint yellow light spread over the narrow hallway. A set of stairs led to the next floor. A heavy umbrella stand, made out of what looked like troll bone, held some dry and cracked canes. 

“This is rustic,” Harry commented. His eyes widened as a set of heavy curtains wiped apart. Behind them hung a portrait depicting a woman in her forties. 

“Blood traitors! Filth! Scum! How dare you sully the Great House of Black with your presence!” the woman in the portrait shouted at them. 

Juliet moved forward before either of the other two could react. She straightened as she reached the portrait. “It is harrowing to see how my predecessor shrieks like the wife of a fishmonger,” she said loudly. 

“How dare you speak to the Lady of the House that way foolish girl,” Lady Black screamed. 

Juliet held a hand out in front of herself as water started pooling in it. “I am Lady Juliet Marie Black daughter of the Chevalier family. I am a Water Mage,” she said. She shifted slightly. “Harry, would you set fire to her frame please?” She had drawn all the moisture out of the painting. 

Harry nodded. He drew his wand. Fire hit the frame. 

“I’m sure she had it protected from fire,” Sirius said as the flames rose. 

“Fiendfyre?” Harry asked with a smirk. He shifted his wand and the flames changed. They were tinted green now. 

Mrs Black’s shriek pierced their ears. 

Juliet sent out water to contain the flames. Normally nothing could stop fiendfyre, but Water Mages had a bit of an advantage since they could control water in a much more advanced way than normal witches or wizards. 

As the ringing in their ears died down, the flames licking the wall faded. Where the painting had once been was now only a black scourge mark. 

Sirius breathed out in relief. “That’s much better,” he said. Spending time in number twelve wouldn’t be as bad without his mother’s portrait around. He wouldn’t have to listen to her ever again. From a room further into the house, the sound of dragging feet reached their ears. A haggard-looking house-elf made his way to the hallway slowly. His big brown eyes looked up at the black mark on the wall. He stared at Sirius. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed. 

Harry pointed his wand at the elf and performed a diagnostic spell. “Heart attack,” he concluded.

“He was old,” Sirius said. “Seeing my mother’s portrait destroyed was probably too much for him.” He shrugged. “At least now I don’t have to figure out what to do with him. I’ll just bury him out back.”

“We’ll start looking around then,” Juliet said.

“Be my guests,” Sirius said with a wide wave of his arm.

Harry followed Juliet. From the stories Ron and Hermione had told about this place, it was full of nasty creatures. It was probably smarter to stick together. Mrs Weasley must have left some time ago considering all the dust. He cast a few cleaning spells as they went. 

Juliet waved her hand as they entered the drawing-room. The heavy curtains that hung along the walls were soaked in water. Doxies flew out towards them, but Harry got rid of the flying pests with a swing of his wand. Juliet stopped in front of one of the cabinets in the room. She opened it up. It was empty. Her eyes narrowed. “What have they done with everything?” she muttered.

“Ron mentioned them cleaning a lot of old things out,” Harry said. “A lot of it was cursed.” He opened an empty set of drawers. 

Juliet sighed. “I hope they didn’t just throw it all out,” she said. “Old family heirlooms can be very valuable even if you don’t want to keep them, and I’m not just talking about money.”

“Sirius was the one who didn’t want to keep the stuff,” Harry said with a shrug. He could understand why Juliet was irritated. It made life harder for them now. He could, however, understand Sirius as well. His father, that was still strange to think, hadn’t liked his family much so the things they had owned meant nothing to him. It all just reminded him of bad times. 

Juliet shook her head and walked out of the room. Harry assumed she was going to find Sirius. He looked around one last time. He could really understand why Sirius didn’t like the house. It was dark and damp. The windows were so dirty you couldn’t see outside. A coffer shook suddenly. The gold hinges rattled. Harry had almost jumped in surprise. He drew his wand and headed up to it. Chances were there was a boggart in there. He grabbed the lid and flung it open. He backed off quickly as a dementor rose out of the coffer. The room got colder. Harry raised his wand and pointed it at the dark apparition. “Ridiculous,” he said calmly. 

The dementor stumbled and fell. As it lifted its head, a big pink pacifier could be seen where its mouth was. The dementor tried getting up, but all it could do was flail helplessly. 

Harry laughed merrily. It had taken him quite some time to figure out how to make a dementor less scary let alone funny. In the end, he thought he had managed rather well. 

Footsteps approached quickly. 

Juliet walked inside. She laughed at the baby dementor. 

Harry stepped back. He was curious to see what Juliet’s boggart was. The shapeshifter focused on Juliet instead of Harry. It changed and passed through several different forms so quickly that they couldn’t see what it was. When it finally settled it was a being of pure fire. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. He was quite confused.

“That’s interesting,” Juliet said. “She walked forward. “I don’t fear fire. I wonder why that is the shape you have taken?”

A low rumble passed through the house. “Burn!” it seemed to say.

Juliet hummed. Her eyes closed as she focused her power. The flaming beast approached her. She didn’t move. It looked like the flames consumed her. Neither Harry nor Sirius moved to help her. They both knew she could handle herself. She didn’t need their help. The flames seemed to rise higher and burn hotter. It was all an illusion as ice and water shot out and consumed the flames. 

“Water will always quench the flames in the end,” Juliet said softly. “All fire and heat does is change water.” She turned to Harry as the fire disappeared. “Sirius said they gathered all the junk in the attic,” she said. “We might as well check there first.”

“Sure.”

Harry agreed. He wasn’t that interested in spending more time in the rundown house than he had to. The staircases were far from wide. They were also very rickety. They had to walk one after another to fit. Sirius led them upstairs past the library and his own bedroom all the way up to the top. Bags filled with things stood up there amongst old furniture and spiderwebs. 

Sirius and Harry lit the tip of their wands so the three of them could see. Juliet grabbed one of the junk bags and started sifting through it. 

“Some of these things are cursed,” Sirius pointed out to her.

“Harry said so earlier,” Juliet said. She was looking for things that could be of use to them or that could be considered valuable in more than a monetary way. The rest she sorted up so they could sell anything of value and donate the money. 

“So,” Harry said sometime later as he went through one of the bags. “I was invited to attend a wedding. Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour are getting married. The invitation says I can bring a plus one.” he looked up at Juliet. “Would you mind coming with me?” he asked. 

Sirius laughed boomingly. He found it very funny. 'Hi, I brought my mom.' He kept laughing as he walked away a bit. 

Juliet smiled softly. “I’m already going. The Chevalier family and the Delacour family are old friends. It just so happens that the rest of the family is a bit busy or otherwise incapable of going,” she said. “Now that we know that I belong to that family they have kindly asked me to represent.”

“Oh, I see,” Harry said. “I guess I can bring Sonja or Melonni. I’m just thinking some extra guards wouldn’t be bad. It might be a big target for the Death Eaters.” He smirked mischievously. “And it would have been a little funny,” he said. 

Juliet rolled her eyes. “Yes, well it would have,” she said. Then she looked over at Sirius. “Will you please stop Sirius. I’m not that much older than him. You are the old crow here.”

“But you married me,” Sirius said. 

“Yes I did,” Juliet said. She shook her head and turned back to Harry. “You do raise a good point,” she said. “William is a curse-breaker, isn’t he?”

Harry nodded.

“What about miss Delacour?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know her that well.”

Juliet nodded slowly. “I would say we talk to Sonja. Do you mind if she comes along? She would be the most practical,” she said. 

Harry shrugged. “I don’t mind,” he said. Sonja was nice and fun. It was probably better than Melonni from a decency point of view anyway. Bill would be way too interested in talking to her. It would disrupt the wedding. Or at least it could.

Sometime later Sirius sighed loudly in frustration. “It’s not here,” he said as he flung several goblets across the room. 

Juliet and Harry ducked. They could both understand why he was reacting so erratically.

Juliet stood up and stretched. “Where is your brother’s room?” she asked. It could always be there. If Regulus had been the one who took it, Krecher could have placed it there. She didn’t want to consider other alternatives right now. R.A.B could be someone else, or it could have been taken elsewhere. 

“This way,” Sirius led them downstairs. He opened the door to a green room. The walls and fabrics were all green. 

“This is very Slytherin,” Harry commented. 

“It’s in response to my room,” Sirius said. “It looks just about as bad. A single colour like this just looks awful. Silver and gold does not help.”

Juliet worked through the room quickly opening drawers. She found several hidden compartments. She stopped searching and held up a small black book. “It’s a diary,” she said softly. 

Sirius’ face turned ashen. Harry walked up to him and gave him a hug. “I don’t want to read it,” Sirius said. 

“Do you mind if I read it?” Juliet asked. 

Sirius shook his head slowly. He guessed it might be good if someone acknowledged what his brother had felt like over the years. He just knew he couldn’t do it. He’d been an awful big brother. It was so clear to him now that he had seen Juliet and Hermione together. Maybe he could have changed things. There was no point to those thoughts now. It was too late. Regulus was dead. 

Harry started walking around the room. He pulled a drawer open. “Got it,” he said. He put on a pair of velvet gloves before he brought a long chain out of a drawer. At the end of it hung a heavy locket. It was identical to the locket that the Alpha team had found. 

Juliet went over to him as she brought out a silk pouch. Harry dropped the locket into it. They would bring it to Melonni when they got back to the Villa. “I can return at a later date with Melonni to finish up,” Juliet said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yes please,” Sirius said. “I would rather not set foot in this house ever again.” 

“I’ll take care of it, dear,” Juliet said. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. As she did, he apparated them back home. 

Harry landed closely behind them. He and Juliet headed up to the Villa. They needed to destroy the locket as soon as possible. They found Melonni and Pauline in one of the back rooms set aside for experiments. The curse-breaker and warder were working on something lying on the table. It looked like a pair of glasses, but that was probably just the surface of it. 

“... we include these runes. We should be able to make it work without a problem,” Pauline said. She was pointing to a rune chart. 

“I know,” Melloni said. “I’m just worried it will get unstable.”

Harry moved forward. He studied the notes on the table for a bit before pointing to one of them. “If you add this one it shouldn’t become unstable,” he said. 

“Well that might work,” Melloni said. She tapped the chart.

“If we don’t try then we’ll never know,” Pauline said. 

Juliet had looked the notes over as they spoke. The glasses were supposed to show curses and wards more clearly to the wearer. She guessed they were making them for apprentices. Young people got hurt a lot in both professions. 

“Now,” Melloni said as Pauline started working on the glasses. “Did you find a Horcrux in Grimmauld Place?”

Juliet brought the silk pouch out and handed it to the curse-breaker.

Melloni looked over her shoulder at Pauline. “Let’s go somewhere else,” she said. She didn’t want to damage their project. They headed a few rooms down and closed the door behind them. 

The wards activated. 

Melloni pulled the locket out of the pouch. She turned it in her hand a few times. “It’s sealed,” she said. “I don’t recognise the mechanism.” She held the locket up by the chain, and it spun around slowly.

“I think I might know how to open it,” Harry said suddenly. “Place it down.”

Melloni did as he said, and drew her wand. “Go ahead,” she said. 

Harry breathed in. He breathed out. He was trying to focus. “ _Open_ ,” he hissed in parseltongue. 

The locket opened up and a dark mist rose out of the locket. Melonni moved forward. She was chanting in a low voice. The mist changed and took form. Two people took shape in the mist. A man and a woman. They started speaking. Their words were filled with acid and disappointment. 

Juliet smiled softly. The locket was trying to break Melonni’s spirit. She knew that wouldn’t work. Melonni most likely couldn’t even hear the projections. The curse-breaker tended to shut the world out when she was working. She was chanting slowly under her breath. The chanting died down. “Harry cast a blasting curse. Juliet freeze it. It’s the only way to destroy it,” Melloni breathed. She was using up quite a lot of energy to keep the locket vulnerable. 

The locket frosted up as Juliet turned her powers on it. 

Harry waited for the perfect moment. He wanted the metal to be as brittle as possible. “Confringo!” he said as he cast the spell. 

The locket shook for a split second before it exploded in a thousand little pieces. Juliet had raised a shield to protect them from the shrapnel. It was good she had. They would most likely all have their shins filled with metal otherwise. 

“That’s another one down,” Melonni said. She cleaned the room up. “I’ll be heading back to Pauline now if you don’t mind.” She walked off before they could respond. 

It felt good to have gotten rid of another Horcrux. They were one step closer. Now they needed to get into Hogwarts. Chances were the last one would be there. They would have to find it and send it back to the Villa. It wasn’t going to be easy. 

…

Bill and Fleur’s wedding was approaching quickly. 

Juliet left the Villa to go see Celestine. When she returned she was carrying a decorative box. As a representative of the family, she needed an appropriate wedding gift. The family was very happy she could go. It would have been disastrous if they weren't represented. 

The morning before the wedding Juliet was standing in the kitchen. She was weaving her magic slowly. She had the gift from her family. Harry needed to give them something, though, and she felt they could make something really personal. She was making a frozen flower that Harry could then enchant. They had contacted a seamstress she knew to get clothes for the wedding a couple of days before. Sirius wasn’t coming along. He didn’t want to mess with Molly. He certainly wasn’t invited. He just wanted to avoid any fighting. 

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sonja and Juliet all joined up the next day. They were heading off to the wedding. They were all dressed up in current fashion. Ron and Harry in black and the women in shades of purple. Hermione took Juliet’s hand and they apparated off. They landed and were greeted by the Weasley twins, Fred and George. “Well hello ladies,” they said. “How did you find such beautiful companions?” Fred asked Ron. 

Ron chuckled. “I was lucky,” he said. “You know Hermione,” he said. “Then we have her sister Juliet and one of our instructors Sonja.” 

“Any of you ladies free?” George asked. 

Juliet chuckled. “Trying to flirt up all the pretty girls?” she asked. “You are going to have your hands full. Have Fleur’s family showed up yet?”

“Oh, no,” Fred said. “Are they good looking?”

“Let’s just say she has a lot of cousins,” Juliet said. “On the Veela side of the family.”

“Oh, now that sounds interesting,” George said. 

“Now let’s get you seated,” Fred said. 

“I represent the Chevalier family this day,” Juliet said. 

“Ah, now that places you on the bride's side,” Fred said. “Please come with me.”

“The rest of you will sit on the groom's side, though, we could use your help, Ron,” George said. 

“Sure,” Ron said. He took a sheet with the seating arrangements so he could help his brothers out. He looked it over, nodding slowly as he did. As Fred and George helped his party, several french families showed up. Ron asked their names and guided them to their seats. Most of them were seated around where Juliet had ended up. 

“I didn’t know you spoke French,” Fred said as the twins joined back up with him. 

“I don’t,” Ron said. “But we have some really good translator equipment.”

“Wouldn’t mind getting ahold of that,” Fred said. 

Ron chuckled. “Don’t think so bro’ you’re a businessman. These things are not for sale,” he said. 

Fred pouted. “But Ron,” he said. 

“Hush there are more people coming,” Ron said. He stepped forward and smiled brightly as several ladies came walking up to them. The three brothers helped them out. Ron helped people to their seats until it seemed like everyone was there then he went and sat down next to Hermione. He drew his wand as his great aunt Muriel came and sat down. He cast a silencing charm at her. No one needed to hear her comments right now. He also made sure she didn’t realise what he had done. 

Everyone fell silent as the music started playing. Ginny and Gabrielle came walking down the aisle. Their golden dresses reflected the faint light from the torches. Both girls were really pretty. Behind them, Bill and Fleur walked in. Bill looked a bit nervous, but he seemed to be as happy as he could ever be. Fleur was glowing. She was easily the most beautiful woman there, and it wasn’t because she was part Veela. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said a slightly sing-song voice. It was a tufty haired old wizard that would officiate the wedding. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls. As William Arthur Weasley and Fleur Isabelle Delacour embark on this journey together they will be able to nurture a love that makes them better versions of themselves. Marriage is a garden we sow with love and harvest in personal growth.”

“William and Fleur, on your journey together, keep your spouse in the space of highest priority in your heart. The love that you share must be guarded and cherished forever, for it is your most valuable treasure,” the officiant said.

Harry looked around. He could see that Mrs Weasley was crying. She was drying her eyes with a handkerchief. Harry sighed. He found this ceremony rather boring. He liked Sirius and Juliet’s wedding better. Simple and to the point. He focused back on the man talking.

“...but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance,” the officiant said. 

"Do you William Arthur take Fleur Isabelle to be your wife and better half, to take care of her and cherish your relationship? To love her today, tomorrow, and forever? To always be open, honest, and faithful to her. Do you take her to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto her for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Bill said. 

Now Molly had almost disappeared in her handkerchief. She was crying even more. She was joined by several other women, and Ron almost considered silencing them as well. He thought better of it though, knowing that the sniffles somehow belonged. 

The officiant repeated the question to Fleur, and then he pronounced them bonded. He raised his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur, and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiralling around their now entwined figures. Fred and George rose from their chairs. They were applauding loudly, and it didn’t take long for everyone else to join them. Golden balloons overhead burst to let out birds of paradise and tiny golden bells. 

“Ladies and gentlemen please rise,” the tufty-haired wizard called out. “If you would please stand up!”

They rose and the officiate cast several spells. The chairs disappeared and a golden liquid spread out under their feet creating a dance floor. Waiters showed up at the edge of the tent. Some carried drinks and others carried finger foods. People mingled. Hermione and Ron walked around for a bit. They found Viktor Krum sitting by a table. 

“Hello Viktor,” Hermione said. “I didn’t know you would be here. It is nice to see you again.”

Viktor looked up and his eyes brightened. “Hello Hermione,” he said. He glanced over at Ron. 

“Ron Weasley,” Ron said. “I know it is a bit hard to keep track of which one of us is which with this many of us.”

“Ah, yes,” Viktor said. “So the tvo of you are a couple nov?” he asked. He could faintly remember the redhead in front of him. 

Hermione shook her head. “No we’re just friends,” she said. 

Viktor’s eyes lit up. “Could I ask for a dance in that case?” he asked. 

Ron gave Hermione a questioning glance. It was up to her. 

“I would love to,” Hermione said. 

Bill and Fleur had stepped onto the dance floor. Arthur had invited Fleur’s mother. Others were slowly stepping up. Harry led Sonja up to the floor. 

“Vhat are you doing nov?” Viktor asked. 

“I have another year of school left and then I don’t know. The UNMDs research division sounds interesting,” Hermione said.

“That is a rather had business to get into,” Viktor said. “Vithout an in..”

“I have one. My sister works for the UNMD,” Hermione said. 

“You have a sister?” Viktor said, surprised. 

Hermione chuckled. “She’s around here somewhere,” she said. “I can introduce you later.”

They danced for a while before taking a seat again. Ron was dancing with Sonja now and Harry had invited Ginny onto the floor. 

“Hermione,” Viktor said after a while. “Do you know that man?” he pointed over at Luna Lovegood’s father.

“Not really,” Hermione said. “I have met his daughter a few times.”

“Hmmm.”

“How come?”

“He is vearing a very rude symbol,” Viktor said. “It is Grindelwald’s mark.”

“Ah,” Hermione could understand why Viktor didn’t like that. She looked around trying to find her sister. She was lucky and their eyes connected. “Sis, what do you know about the symbol that Mr Lovegood is wearing?” she asked as Juliet walked up. 

Juliet looked over. She tilted her head to the side and grimaced. “Ah, it’s the sign of the three brothers: the Deathly Hallows. The cloak, the stone, and the wand.”

“Viktor says it is Grindelwald’s mark,” Hermione said. 

Juliet shook her head. “The mark is older than that,” she said. “He might have used it because he was interested in the myth. The tale of three brothers is a rather old story. It just so happens to be at least partly true.”

“Really?”

Juliet nodded. “Considering I found that mark in Harry's invisibility cloak and the Alpha team found it on a stone that just so happens to be able to bring back the dead, or their spirits at least. We have locked that one up. It is a little too dangerous to be left out there.”

“So not really Grindelwald’s mark then,” Hermione said.

“No, though I can understand that you connect it as such Mr Krum,” Juliet said. “Mr Lovegood does not mean anything bad by it. He is just a fan of the Hallows.”

Viktor grumbled but he accepted the explanation. Part of him wished he had known Hermione had a sister earlier. He liked Hermione, but wow her sister was hot. She, he could tell, was taken though. He invited Hermione back on to the floor to dance. 

The cutting of the cake came sometime later. Everyone was happy and talking to each other loudly. Some people were outright drunk, but most people were just slightly tipsy. Juliet mingled with as many of the French folk as possible. As she walked around, she learned the reason the Lady of her own house wasn’t there. Her son had fancied Fleur so when Fleur had decided to marry someone else he and his mother had gotten really angry. The Lord didn’t agree, but he wasn’t going to show up by himself so a representative was their only alternative. The Delacours seemed rather happy she was there instead of the main family. 

Suddenly a patronus lynx ran in on the grounds. 

“The Ministry has fallen. They are coming.”

Panic ensued. 

Juliet found Harry and Sonja. Rita showed up. “I’ve called in reinforcements,” she said. 

Juliet nodded. “Let’s get people out of here,” she said. “I have several port-keys to the Villa.” She moved over to the French guests and had them leave with some of the port-keys. She wanted to get as many people as possible away from there. Elders and children were the priority. She grabbed Ginny. “You are going,” she said. She was not open to arguments. She sent the youngest Weasley off with a bunch of other people who didn’t want to stay. 

Their numbers thinned until only those willing to fight were left. 

“We will never make it,” Arthur said. 

“We are not alone,” Juliet said. She stepped forward. “We have cleared everyone out.”

“Ron!”

Ron came running up to Juliet. He knew his family better than she did. He would be better at placing them. Soon enough Ron was calling out orders. His voice held a tone that no one wanted to argue with. He placed them out in a semicircle facing the only plausible direction of attack. 

Spells started bombarding the wards. 

“These wards are not very good,” Juliet said. “They won’t stand for long.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. She was going to have to prepare. She kneeled down and touched the ground. 

Ron drew his wand. "Harry! Hermione! Sonja! Wands out. Shields at the ready. We will protect while the rest of you attack," he shouted. He was doing that way since their shields would hold against almost every spell. "Keep on your toes and don't get hit by an Unforgivable." 

It almost seemed like time was standing still. The Betas and their students were breathing calmly. They were trained for this. 

Then there was a loud crack as the wards crumbled. 

Spells came flying. 

"Now," Ron commanded. Four strong shields went up and melded together. 

Death Eaters came rushing towards the house. Spells flew everywhere. Most of them exploded against the shield. It looked like tiny fireworks. Deadly fireworks. 

"Fleur no," Bill shouted. He tried to get to her as a green spell sailed closer and closer. 

A solid shield of ice formed between Fleur and the spell. Ice flew everywhere as the killing curse hit the shield. 

Someone realized that Juliet hadn't moved since they arrived and started focusing their spells on her. Grey eyes opened and Juliet rushed forward. She ducked spells and punched the man in the stomach before jumping back. Her body flared with ice as spells hit her. She had created a body shield. 

Then shouts could be heard from the back of the Death Eater ranks. The Alpha team had moved in. 

Bellatrix, who was leading the attack, swore. She turned her attention to the building behind the defenders and cast several spells at it. The Burrow caught flames and the rickety structure started to collapse towards the people on the ground. 

Juliet turned back. She rushed forward and she called all the water she could find nearby to her. A wave caught the debris and froze. She reached it and placed herself as a supporting pillar under it freezing with the wave. 

"Hermione! Harry! Help Juliet!" Ron called out. "Sonja let's drive these clowns off." He and Sonja switched from defending to attacking. They drove the Death Eaters back towards the Alpha team. With nowhere to go Death Eaters started apparating away. 

Once Harry and Hermione had cleared off enough rubble from Juliet's wave she turned around with it and threw it at the remaining Death Eaters. As the ice and stone and wood hit the ground the attackers were gone. 

Alpha team disappeared right away. 

Only moments later Abus Dumbledore showed up with several Aurors. He looked around at the gathered people. Remus approached him slowly. "We have a few injuries but nothing bad. No one was killed. The biggest casualty was the house," he told the headmaster. 

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "The other guests?" he asked. 

"Sent to a safe location via port-key," Remus said. 

"We should go too," Juliet said. "They don't have their rat anymore, but we can't know who else is lurking."

Hermione nodded. She grabbed Bill and Fleur and disappeared. A few seconds later she reappeared. "Fred. George," she said and waved them to her. She was gone again. 

"You know where to go," Juliet told Remus. 

He nodded, grabbed Dora and disappeared. 

"You're the Beta leader aren't you?" 

Shacklebolt walked forward from behind a few Aurors. 

Juliet nodded. "I am," she said. 

"Do you know where they took our injured from the ministry?" Shacklebolt asked. 

"Probably back to the Villa," Juliet said. "We can head there now." She brought a port-key out and held it up. "If you are coming grab on," she said. 

Everyone there who didn't know where to go grabbed the hairbrush she held out, and they left for the Villa. 

Dumbledore looked around. There were dozens of tents set up. People were running around, but their movement wasn't frantic. Everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing. 

Juliet sent her sister off together with Ron and Harry to see if they could help. A short man with wild brown hair came walking up to her. 

"Status report," he said. 

Juliet started talking, and they headed off towards the Villa. 

"Oh, she brought a bunch of people I see."

The rather confused group turned around to see Sirius Black. 

"What is this place?" Dumbledore asked. 

"Beta headquarters," Sirius responded. "I am going to assume you don't know about the UNMD." As people shook their heads, Sirius started explaining. 

"So they are special forces?" an auror asked. 

"You could say that," Sirius said. "Juliet, the pretty one that brought you here, is the leader of the Beta team. The other guy that stole her away just now was Crocell Reeden, the leader of Alpha team." Sirius smirked. "Don't think that one team is better than the other. What separates them is age. Crocell has seniority that is it,” Sirius added. 

Dumbledore nodded slowly. “So, they are taking care of all the people that got hurt,” he said. 

“They have a bunch of healers,” Sirius said. “Everyone will be well taken care of.” He started walking towards the Villa. “We might as well head to the main conference room. Everyone will gather there eventually.” He showed them inside and they settled down around a huge table. 

Juliet joined them eventually. Celestine showed up and handed her a clipboard. Melonni walked in, and Juliet talked to her quietly for a moment before she left again. Crocell walked in with Harry, Hermione and Ron following him. The Weasley’s joined them. Remus and Dora showed up and several others. 

“Well, I think we are every one that will be needed for now,” Juliet said. “So we lost the Ministry and the Burrow tonight. It isn’t that surprising. We would have liked to stop it, but that didn’t happen. Thankfully we suffered no losses. We have a few heavily injured. Everyone will make it, though.” She could tell that most people in there relaxed a bit. 

“Orders from the UNMD are that the Beta team now takes command of Britain,” Crocell said. “Juliet you are in charge. I will leave you most of my Alpha team. I need a small group though. You should call all of your Beta team back. You will need them. I’ll take care of whatever they are doing right now.”

“I’ll call them right away,” Juliet said. She walked off for a bit.

“So,” Crocell said. “From now until Voldemort and his Death Eaters are taken care of, Juliet runs this place. She is in charge of dealing with this threat. If you have information on Voldemort or his Death Eaters and withhold that from Juliet it will just make things harder for her. We brought Juliet into the fold when she was fairly young. We trained her. There is no one better to deal with this threat.”

“She is just a girl, though,” Mrs Weasley said.

“She is an adult, and she is a team leader,” Crocell said. “If you decide to treat her like a child she will make you leave. Her job is too important for you to interrupt it.”

“What will happen to the Burrow?” Arthur asked. He was worried about their home. 

“The house is completely destroyed,” Crocell said. “We have sent warders to go ward the grounds from both no-mags and others alike.”

“Where will our parents stay?” Bill asked. 

“They can stay right here in the Villa if that is alright with them,” Crocell answered. “We are going to...” He fell silent as Juliet came back. 

“We want to send out a message to all the no-mag born,” Juliet said. “This will be a sanctuary. Does anyone here know how best to do that?”

Fred looked at George. “We should be able to fix that,” he said.

“Good I’ll talk to you later about what we want to be said,” Juliet said. “We’ll send out guards to protect the train to Hogwarts. We will have two agents stationed by Hogwarts at all times.” She had turned to Dumbledore. “I’ll be sending warders over to check on the wards. We want to make certain the children are safe.”

Dumbledore nodded. He wasn’t sure how to handle this. The fact that there was some kind of special forces that were now going to fight Voldemort was great, but there was so much they didn’t know. He glanced over at Harry. He wasn’t sure what to think when it came to their former students. They seemed to be just as well trained as Juliet’s people. They acted the same. That wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted them to have a childhood and be happy. 

Dumbledore sighed heavily. Corcell finished speaking and deferred to Juliet. 

They split up a while after that. Juliet pulled Fred and George aside to talk to them about their message to the public. Then as she walked out to head back to her house, Dumbledore stopped her. 

“You are calling a lot of heat here,” Dumbledore said worriedly. 

“I trust that our warders have done a good job,” Juliet said. “I don’t mind Voldemort coming here. That just makes our work easier.”

Dumbledore considered telling her that it wasn’t so easy to take out Voldemort. Could she be trusted with that information? He hadn’t found any and that really made him worried. “Voldemort can’t be killed,” Dumbledore said. He paused for a moment. “He made Horcruxes.”

“We are aware,” Juliet said. “He has one unknown left. Harry is rather certain that one is at Hogwarts. 

"We are looking into other possibilities as well,” Harry said as he joined Juliet.

“Harry you shouldn’t…”

“Save it,” Harry said. “We’re taking care of this.”

Juliet nodded. "Harry, Hermione and Ron have been instrumental in dealing with this situation so far. Without them we would never have managed as well as we have," she said. 

"Currently, our plan is to return to Hogwarts as students and complete our education there even though we have long since passed that level of learning. We have already sat our NEWTs and passed with flying colours, but we wish to assess the situation and save as many of the young as possible. People like Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott who may have become Death Eaters might still be saved. At least if we learn that they were pressured into taking the Mark," Harry explained. “The original plan didn’t involve you knowing about this, but plans do change. It doesn’t really make a difference. Voldemort is the enemy here and protecting Hogwarts is our priority.”

“Allowing Harry and his friends back into Hogwarts increases the protection of the school,” Juliet said. “I can set two agents aside. That does not include Harry and his friends since they aren’t technically my people.”

Dumbledore sighed. He wasn’t sure what to say. He certainly wasn’t against letting his former students back. He bid his farewell and left. As he sat down behind his desk at Hogwarts, he breathed out slowly. He wasn’t sure what to think. He had never heard of the UNMD before. It seemed Shacklebolt knew more about them. He would have to ask the man what was going on with these new people. At least Shacklebolt seemed to trust them, and he had seen quite a few other people who wouldn’t trust just anybody, Amelia Bones, being one of them. Slowly, he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Maybe he was getting old. New things surprised him much more than they used to. He popped a lemon drop in his mouth and leaned back. If Juliet and her team were as good as they seemed, then at least the students would be safe. Right now the express and Platform 9 ¾ was not safe for the children. Their idea of getting a message out there of a safe haven for anyone that needed it was good. He was just worried they would get infiltrated. There was nothing he could do though. 

Briefly, just before heading to bed, Dumbledore wondered if he should have told Juliet about his concerns regarding Harry and the Horcrux in his head. 

In another part of the country, the owner of said Horcruxes sat in his ebony throne. Voldemort was displeased. They had taken the Ministry, but they had done that at the cost of only a handful of lives on their opponents part. Most had disappeared as soon as they were injured. They had taken the building. That was it. An empty husk worth nothing on its own. Yes, the Minister was dead, and sure he could now pass any law he wished. However, Voldemort was no fool. He knew that if the opposition had a safe haven those laws would mean nothing. He glared angrily at his followers. If that wasn't enough, they had completely failed in killing the Weasleys. A blow to that family would have shaken Dumbledore's support. They couldn't even get that right. 

Defenders. They had told him there were defenders. He had sent his best and they couldn't even take out a dozen or so people. His red eyes focused on Bellatrix. He pointed his wand at her. Silently he entered her mind. Locating the memory wasn't hard. Getting the insane woman to focus on it was a little harder, but he didn't care how much it hurt her. Soon enough he was walking around the battlefield. His eyes focused on the group defending the house. _'Children,'_ he snorted internally. Then his eyes narrowed. It would seem that Potter had returned. A foolish move on the old man's part. Did he really think a mere child could defeat him, the Dark Lord? Dealing with Potter would be simple enough. He would just have to give the word. 

Voldemort allowed for the memory to play out. Anger rose within him. He pulled out of Bellatrix's mind. "Why has it taken until now for me to learn that they have a Mage on their side!" he hissed angrily. The woman wasn't really going to be a problem, but he needed the information. She had to be a prime target, especially since she could guard herself against spells. 

"This is the first time we have encountered her, my Lord," Rowel said. 

Voldemort closed his eyes. They needed to act swiftly. Hogwarts would be his. Once they had the children, the parents were going to have to listen to him. They would strike swift and hard. "I want those of you who can to keep an eye on the train. See if they have added any security to protect the children. It will give us an idea of how well prepared they are," he told his Death Eaters. 

It was a plan, but Hermione and Ron were one step ahead. Any Betas that accompanied the teens had disguised themselves as students. Half the Aurors just looked like parents. The other half openly wore their uniforms. They were the only ones that the Death Eaters saw. A dozen or so Aurors. It was laughable. If that was all they could set aside to guard the children then they didn't stand a chance. 

Back at the Villa, Melonni had destroyed the last Horcrux. Pauline had gone to look for it while she and the other warders worked on the castle wards. So now all they had to do was wait for Voldemort to attack. Though some people weren't too happy about the idea. No one really wanted to have the children at Hogwarts at risk, but defending the Castle would allow them to save more people in the end. Attacking Voldemort meant risking many more lives. They still knew very little about him as a general. The one thing they did know was that he didn't really care who died as long as he got what he wanted. 

All in all, they wanted the high ground. That was why Pauline and her group had been warding the school. It now had three layers of wards. Voldemort was not getting in. 

Their plans had changed once more. It was a good thing they were so flexible. 


	4. Hello Hogwarts

Harry closed his eyes and leaned back. It felt strange to ride the express again. The slight swaying reminded him of waves. 

"So we're going on just to add more protection for the students," Hermione said. "It's interesting to see how plans change as things happen. I'm glad Juliet and the Betas are so adaptable." 

"It makes more sense anyway," Ron said with a shrug. "We'll offer every student considered an adult the chance to fight no matter the house, and we can keep an eye on those unwilling to follow in their parents' footsteps." 

"Chances are at least some people in Malfoy's position don't want to get branded," Harry added. "He was a git to us but that isn't a reason to force him to join Snake-face."

The ride to Hogwarts was uneventful. Ginny was avoiding them. She was still angry they hadn't invited her along. Most other people didn't know they were on the train. They had arrived early just so they could avoid being seen. No one really needed to know anything about them until they reached the school. Once there they had actually made some changes to their original plan. Instead of working behind the scenes, they were going to do it all upfront. 

Harry greeted the thestrals before hopping aboard the carriage that would take them to the castle. Silently and unmoving two Betas that Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't know overlooked everyone's entrance to the school. Most of the students probably didn't even realize that they were there. Most students hadn't received training from the special teams. 

Hermione took point as they entered the castle. They walked through the entrance hall and into the Great Hall quickly. Once seated they had a good look at the staff table only to be surprised. Sirius was sitting where the Defense professor usually sat. He gave them a wave. 

"Dumbledore must have asked him," Harry said. "Would have been nice if he'd told us, though." 

"It's Sirius," Hermione said. "He probably thought it would be a great prank." She rolled her eyes. "At least it means that we'll have a competent Defense teacher this year. It could be far worse than Professor Black up there." 

"I think it warrants a prank," Harry said. "He should have told us. If nothing else it will lighten the mood." He fell silent for a short while before adding, "Do you think Juliet will join him here?" 

"At times," Ron answered. "She can't run things from here so she will want to stay at the Villa as well, but I doubt she will give up on the opportunity of taking a good look around." 

The other two agreed then they fell silent as Professor McGonagall entered with the first-year students. Many of them looked frightened. They stopped between the tables as McGonagall brought out a small stool and the battered-looking Sorting Hat. There was a pause as the Hall fell silent. Then a rip opened up in the hat. 

I know I am no looker

But that don't bother me

For I have brains and I have skill

That is plain for all to see 

Standing here you wonder 

Where to you shall go

Put me on and I will tell you 

I shall let you know

Just remember that no matter

Where I send you to

You need to work together 

To see these dark times through

Come here now and try me on

Let me tell you all

Where you belong in years to come

Whether great or small

You may belong in Gryffindor

With the knights of old

Where bravery and chivalry

In their hearts they hold 

Or maybe you in Hufflepuff

Can find where you belong

They are kind and they work hard

To hold their friendships strong 

Still, it might be Ravenclaw

That satisfies you mind

Among the wise and witty

They're the creative kind 

Lastly, there is Slytherin 

Were the cunning dwell

Are you a leader or a follower

It's quite hard to tell

No matter where I place you

Now you must work hard

To bridge the gap between you

To heal what has been scared

Like two birds of a feather

Together you must stand 

To fight those who willingly

Hold the Dark Lord’s brand

Look to those around you

To gather strong and true

No one is alone

We all are here with you

Harry rolled his eyes. The hat was really going for it this time. He stood up closely followed by Hermione and Ron. The three of them pointed their wands at their throats. They wanted to make sure everyone heard them. They stopped between the tables and waited for the Sorting to finish. Hermione gave a quick smile as her sister entered the hall and stood opposite her between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. As the last student sat down at the Gryffindor table and Professor McGonagall returned to her seat, three blasts of magic left the teens. A serpent and a lion formed above Harry. A lion and an eagle formed above Hermione. Lastly, a badger and a lion formed above Ron. 

"Even though you have now been sorted," Hermione started. 

"That doesn't mean you were not right for only the house you're now in," Ron continued. 

"Everyone fits in one way or another in more houses than one. We're all more complex than a few lines spoken by a hat," Harry said. 

"You might be a brave Slytherin." 

"Or a cunning Hufflepuff." 

"Maybe you're a witty Gryffindor." 

"Or perhaps a loyal Ravenclaw." 

"Don't limit yourself. Just because you have been placed in one house that doesn't mean you can't make friends in another," Hermione said. 

"You could do great in Slytherin. It's all here right in your head, and Slytherin could lead you on the path to greatness," Harry said. Ha gave a small smirk. "That's what the hat told me during my sorting." He met Draco Malfoy's eyes and offered him an apologetic smile. "I had just met a right git though. So I wasn't too keen on the house of serpents right then. That combined with the fact that the man who killed my parents had once been a Slytherin sent me straight to Gryffindor." 

"Everyone knows that Voldemort used to be a Slytherin. What they don't know is the name he actually went by. Tom Marvolo Riddle," Ron said. "The son of a squib of the Gaunt family and Tomas Riddle a no-mag." He raised his wand. "If you don't believe me, take a look at this," he said as he pointed his wand into the air. In golden letters, Riddle's name showed up. Then slowly each letter was crossed off as Ron wrote a second line. 'I am Lord Voldemort.' "I know for a fact that Riddle attended the school," he said. "I spent hours of detention cleaning a trophy of his in my second year."

"So the Death Eaters are following a half-blood. Less pure than Harry. At least his parents were properly magical. Despite this they claim pure-blood supremacy even though the strongest among them is barely a half-blood," Hermione said. 

The hall was abuzz with voices. Slytherins were shouting and many others seemed unwilling to believe what was being said. 

"That's really not all that important in the end, though. We just felt you should be informed," Ron said. "What is important is what you do now." He walked up closer to the head table. "Will you join us and defend what is right. Protect freedom and our right to live the way we wish. Or will you follow a madman? A man that can't even realize that no-mag born really are just children of squibs coming back to us." He gestured towards Hermione." Just look at Hermione and her sister Juliet. We found that they were daughters of the Chevalier family. How else do you explain Juliet to be a Mage? Mages are certainly not born from no-mag blood. Too much magic is required to produce such a child." 

Quite a few distrusting murmurs rose from the Slytherin table. Only to stop as Draco stood up. "Weasley is right. Mages can't be born from no-mags," he said. He studied the golden trio as Harry and his friends were called by some. They had changed. A lot. He didn't see students standing at the head of the tables. He saw warriors. He had noticed the woman at the foot of the tables too and noted the similarity between her and Granger. They looked a lot alike, and they moved the same. 

“We aren’t interested in joining him,” he said loud and clear. “Can you keep us safe?”

“Yes,” four voices said at once. 

“We have prepared for this,” Juliet said. “We know what is coming. He has the Ministry. Now, he’ll want Hogwarts.”

“He is coming here no matter what we do,” Ron said. “So we have prepared. You don’t need to join us. There is no need for you to fight. We’re just inviting those among you who want to help.”

“But you have to be seventeen or older,” Hermione said. "We will not have anyone younger mixed up in this. You will all be kept safe behind the wards." 

Draco nodded slowly. He sat back down. He would find one of them later and speak with them about the Slytherins and his parents. He hoped they would be willing to help. At the very least he wanted his mother safe. She had never been a Death Eater. She had never liked what the Dark Lord stood for, but she never had that much of a choice in the matter. 

Harry, Hermione and Ron returned to their seats as Dumbledore called the feast up. For now, all they could do was follow the flow. Neville moved closer to them. “What are they doing about the Hospital?” he asked. It wasn’t strange that Neville asked. 

“We have strengthened the wards. And we have guards on point. Right now a plan to move everyone is being formed,” Ron answered. 

“Our healers have had a look at your parents and they think they can fix it,” Harry said. “We’re going to have to deal with Voldemort first though. It would take a lot of time and effort to heal the Longbottoms. While we still have Voldemort out there we can’t set our healers aside.”

“That’s understandable,” Neville said. “I’m just glad there is a plan in place.”

“Certainly,” Hermione said. “We do try to think ahead or at least Juliet is. She is much more experienced than you might think just looking at her.”

For a while, everyone focused on the food on their plates. It was quiet in the hall. All you could hear was the clinking of silverware against plaits. There was a strange air about as people thought of their futures. What did they want with their lives? It was a time to reflect without the input from parents. 

As conversations picked up again, the tone was serious. Harry and his friends had brought about a change. Some were now even more firmly set in their beliefs while others had changed their minds. Maybe the world was not as black and white as they had first thought. 

Then came the end of the feats and Dumbledore bid them all a good night. Prefects led the younger students through the school to their dorms. Harry was in no hurry to get back there. Hermione and Ron went ahead, but he had a feeling someone wanted to talk to him. He wasn't wrong. 

"So you came back." 

Harry turned around slowly until he was standing face to face with Malfoy. "We did. Hermione got irritated with the wizarding world and begged her sister to take us in and train us," he said. "People seem to have woken up a bit since we left." 

Draco nodded thoughtfully. "He lives in my home," he said with a shudder. "Sharing a house with Him isn't easy. I'm expected to take the mark during the Yule holiday. I'd rather not." He looked off in the distance. "He treats my parents horribly. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. Even if I believed in the nonsense he spouts I wouldn't want to follow him, but he has my parents." 

Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Come on," he waved for Draco to follow. "We better go talk to Juliet. I hope she's still here. She'll know how to handle your situation better than me," he said. "Besides," he added. "She is Lady Black and you are a son of the Black family so you could always appeal to that. Though Lord Black might get stingy. He doesn't like your father very much." Harry stopped in front of a door and knocked. A few seconds passed before it opened revealing Juliet. She smiled at them. "Hello, Harry," she said. Then she looked Draco over. "So you were right I take it," she said. 

"You could say that," Harry said. 

Juliet waved them inside the Professor's quarters. "Harry was quite certain you weren't that interested in joining Voldemort," she said. 

"I've always thought you're too smart," Harry said with a shrug to answer Draco's questioning look. He retold the information Draco had already given him to Juliet and Sirius. 

Juliet nodded slowly. "I have contacts," she said. "I can get your parents out. They will have to abandon their home for a time, but they will be safe. That, however, does not protect your father from a trial. The United Nation's Magical Division will hold the trials. He can get a more lenient sentence if he were to give us information on the Dark Lord, but he won't get away scot-free."

Draco nodded slowly. "I can understand that," he said. "I still think father would prefer that to the alternative." 

Juliet hummed. She would have to push things ahead if she was to save the Malfoys. The information they could give would be worth it, though. She'd have to act quickly. A small sigh left her lips. She had thought that maybe she could get a quiet evening with Sirius, but that didn't seem likely now. "What does my contact tell them?" she asked Draco. "They need to know that they can trust my guy." 

"Nest is burning. Save the hatchlings," Draco said. 

"You have already spoken of this possibility with them," Juliet asked. 

"Yes." 

Draco sighed. He sat down heavily. He looked tired, almost broken. He gazed up at Juliet. "Can we win?" he asked. 

Juliet chuckled. "I don't like being overconfident, but we're doing well. Unless Voldemort has a hidden army of magic users as powerful as your family we can take them," she said. 

"What she means is that Juliet Black Lady of the house of Black knows we will win, but Juliet the commander of Beta team can't allow herself to think that way," Harry said cheekily. "Isn't that right mother." 

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Something like that," she said. 

"You seem confident," Draco told Harry. 

"I have seen her bend the ocean to her will. Sonja has seen her turn a tsunami away," Harry said. "We have a team of the best of the best. If anyone can deal with Voldemort it's them." 

"And if I'd like to help but maybe not be fighting?" Draco asked. 

"We need a team of flying retrievers," Juliet said. "Guarded by Ron's flying squad. They will rescue people who have been hurt and bring them to the great hall to our healers. Or you can aid the healers."

"You can also help by brewing healing potions and salves before the battle even starts," Harry said. "There are several positions that won't put you in danger but will make a difference in the end. We will offer some of the in-school positions to the sixth year students as well. They won't be part of the fighting in here." 

Draco nodded slowly. He knew people who might want to help but didn't feel comfortable fighting their own families. "I'll speak to the Slytherins," he said. "We will help." 

"Good," Harry said. "We'll speak to Ron. He is the commander of the student fighters." 

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You aren't the one in charge of that?" he asked just a tiny bit surprised. 

Harry shook his head. "The best strategist is the one in charge. That means Juliet for Beta team and Ron for the Dragons," he said. "We needed a neutral name for the students. And well you know what the motto of the school is." 

"Don't tickle a sleeping dragon," Draco said. 

"Don't piss off the students. We may be young, but we have something they don't. We don't think inside the box," Harry said with a smirk. 

Draco left not long after that. He had some Slytherins to convince. He felt better than he had in months. Potter's confidence had rubbed off on him. They would do this. They would take their world back from insane adults who were slowly destroying it. He entered the snake den. People moved aside. "We will protect our school," he stated loudly. He went on to explain how each of them could help even if they didn't fight. 

"And why should we listen to you?" a sixth-year student asked. 

Draco tilted his head slightly. "Because the Dark Lord will not survive the forces that now stand ready to defend the castle," he said. "He has no idea who he is facing." He was pushing the confidence Potter had given him before he himself started feeling doubt once more. He left the common room before anyone else could question him. 

Juliet kissed Sirius before heading off. She contacted her man among the Death Eaters. The sooner he could come to speak with her the better. 

A day and a half she waited for a response. In the meantime, Ron was drawing up plans for the Dragons. He had spoken with Draco who was now overseeing the creation of healing potions. The students had been split into five groups. One would follow Ron as air support. Harry and Hermione would lead their ground teams. Draco would lead their rescue team, and Daphne Greengrass would head their medic support team inside the school. Everything was coming together. 

It was late when Juliet finally met with her contact. She sent him off with the information he needed and returned to the Villa. His wife showed up that same night. "I really hope you know what you are doing," she told Juliet. 

"So do I," Juliet said. Things were coming to an end. 

Early the following morning the Malfoys showed up with the undercover agent. Juliet greeted them and quickly moved them into the Villa. She sent her man off to join up with his wife. "Frankly the more information you can give me the easier life will be for you," Juliet told Lucius. They spent two days together. Lucius told Juliet as much as he could. He didn't know everything the Dark Lord had planned. 

Juliet returned to Hogwarts to speak to Ron. She needed to know how the Dragons were doing. 

Ron was sitting in an empty classroom. He was peering over the Marauders' Map. Juliet sat down next to him. "Within the week," she said. "We removed Lucius' mark so as far as Riddle is concerned the Malfoys are dead. That should keep him on point. If he goes dormant now that would be bad. 

"Harry can taunt him," Ron said. 

"Just don't overdo it," Juliet said. "We don't want him to catch on." 

Ron nodded slowly. They would have to think something up. Maybe Draco could construct a missive just infuriating enough to get snake-face going. 

They caught up on the latest additions to the plan before going their separate ways. There was much to do and very little time to do it in. 

Harry was sitting by the Slytherin table that evening speaking to Draco and Daphne. They were putting together an article for the prophet in an attempt to pull Voldemort in. 

**_Ravenclaw’s Lost Diadem_ **

_This reporter has been informed that a team of students interested_

_in the founders of Hogwarts have made a breakthrough. After_

_speaking to the Gray Lady also known as Helena Ravenclaw,_

_they found that the Diadem was taken to Albania in her time._

_However, they believe that it has returned to Hogwarts. After_

_searching the castle floor by floor they have narrowed the location_

_down to the seventh floor. We have learnt that there is a room on the_

_seventh floor that changes in accordance to your wishes. It can be_

_full of chamber pots as it is known to have appeared to one Albus_

_Dumbledore. It can also become a room that holds all hidden or lost_

_items of Hogwarts. Currently, the plan is to catalogue and go through the_

_entire room. It is believed that the diadem will be found amongst the_

_various other items in the room._

_~Raco Phen_

“Good,” Harry said. “That should get him going.”

“I guess,” Daphne said. “Why is the Diadem important by the way?”

“You don’t want to know,” Harry said. “But if you’re really interested I’ll tell you after the Battle.”

Daphne sighed. She wished he could just tell them. She guessed it was important somehow and that’s why he couldn’t say anything. She put the finished article away. She would send it to her father, who in turn would get it printed in the Daily Prophet. They were one step closer to mayhem. 

… 

The alarm sounded. Ron grabbed his things and headed for the great hall. This was it. All his planning would payout within the next few hours. Dean and Seamus showed up only to moments later be joined by Fred and George. "Okay, you know what to do. Lay the traps then come back. Do not engage in combat. If any sharks break through leave them to the wolves," Ron told them. He sent their trap team off to join a few of Juliet's people and then he turned to the filling hall. He jumped up on the Hufflepuff table. "Falcons to me," he called. 

"Bears to me," Harry called from the Gryffindor table and Hermione called out for the Griffins to join her. They had split people up in accordance to what house they had attended mostly. Harry led the Hufflepuffs and some of the Gryffindors. Hermione led the Ravenclaws and some of the Gryffindors. Ron had a mix, but they were all good flyers. Then there was Draco who led the Crows and Daphne who led the Mantas. The last two were support teams. The Crows would rescue and the Mantas helped the Healers inside the Great Hall. 

Harry and Hermione led their teams outside to join up with Juliet and her people. They defended the school and they would take the bulk of the attack with Juliet and her people taking point. 

"Mind if I join you?" 

Draco turned slightly only to be surprised by who was standing there. Marcus Flint. "Certainly," Draco said. He wasn't sure why Flint was there, but then it clicked. Flint must have been Juliet's inside-man. He wore the Dark Mark openly. He wanted to help them. He knew about their plans and Draco had received a very cryptic message from his father a few days prior. Now he understood what his father had meant. "It's good to have you," he said. 

Flint smirked and they went back to preparing for what is to come.

Ron saw how Fred and George showed back up. They offered him big grins and thumbs-ups. Everything had gone well. "Falcons at the ready," Ron called out. "Take flight." 

They were off. Out through one of the large windows that had been opened up in preparation for the battle. 

One way in. One way out. 

Ron scanned the ground below. Everything seemed to be going according to plan so far. The Death Eaters were bombarding the outer ward. They would break through soon. Dumbledore and the other Professors were walking out to join the battle. Juliet quickly directed them to their positions. They had counted on the professors joining them even though none of them had been part of the planning except for Sirius. 

Dumbledore stood side by side with Juliet. "Our plan was for you to draw Voldemort's attention," Juliet said softly. "I can't guarantee you'll survive that." 

"Have you dealt with all the Horcruxes?" Dumbledore asked. "Including the one in Harry?" 

"He was the first," Juliet said. "We have taken care of all of them. The snake died a couple of days ago. That was the last one." 

Dumbledore nodded slowly. He understood what had to happen, and he, just like Juliet, knew he would most likely not survive the fight. But the knowledge that they would win the battle was enough for him. He was an old man. He could go out with a bang. A silly smile made its way to his lips. Maybe for once, he'd play a little. It would certainly infuriate Tom if he did. 

"Must Snape be with us?" Sirius whined. 

"Yes," Harry said. "He is one of the few I'm happy to have guarding my back right now." 

Severus raised an eyebrow. The boy couldn't possibly know about his vow to Dumbledore. He wondered how that conclusion had been reached. 

"Remember!" Harry and Hermione called out. "Protect each other first. Fight second. We don't want any unnecessary deaths on our side. WE WILL PULL THROUGH!" 

The wards broke. 

Everything went silent. 

Then the trees in the Forbidden Forest started swaying. Giants broke through. 

"House-elves at the ready!" Juliet called. "Remember to stay alive and save your comrades." She waited until the smoke traps that Melonni had placed went off filling the field just before the forest with thick black smoke. "House-elves attack!" she called out. 

From above Ron saw how the little elves teleported around. Little clouds rose in the smoke as Dobby and the other elves quickly jumped around and stabbed little blades in the giants' feet. 

Heavy clubs hit the ground as the giants started attacking the elves, but the tiny creatures were too small. They moved around and between the giants so quickly that the big brutes didn't stand a chance. 

"Dobby report!" Juliet commanded as the last giant fell. 

Dobby showed up next to her. His clothes bloodied and a strange sheen visible in his eyes. "Twenty-six wounded and three dead ma'am," he said. 

Juliet nodded. "Make sure the wounded get treated and the dead are laid aside. They will be buried as the heroes they were when this is over," she said. 

Dobby gave a determined nod. "Dobby will tell the others," he said before disappearing. 

"They have sent the werewolves now," Sonja said quietly. 

Juliet nodded slowly. "Argo's turn then," she said. 

In the forest Argo's werewolves were waiting. As what was left of Fenrir's pack came close, they sprung their trap. Argo's eyes narrowed at the sight of so many child turners. They bit children. He let out a low growl before rushing forward. He slammed his massive fist into the new alpha's chest sending the man to the ground. Aspen, Fenrir's dearest son, snarled and drew his wand, but Argo was faster. He pulled a heavy axe from his belt and chopped Aspen’s arm off. “You will never touch another child again,” he growled before the axe sank into Aspen’s skull. 

Hermione bounced on her heels. She could hear the screams from the forest, but she couldn’t see what was happening. It put her on edge. 

“Argo will have them surrender soon,” Remus said softly. After spending as much time with Argo as he had, he knew that the gentle alpha didn’t want to hurt those who were forced to be there. It would be over soon. 

Just as the screams died down there was a shout from Ron, “Inferi!,” he called loud and clear. 

“Ready with the mote. Seamus. Dean,” Harry said. “Let them enter before igniting it.” 

“Gottcha Harry,” Seamus said. 

They all watched as shambling bodies made it out of the forest. 

“Wands at the ready!” Juliet called. “Dementors incoming!”

Ron looked around. He located the despair spreaders and turned towards them. Together with everyone else that could cast a Patronus he prepared for Juliet’s signal. 

“Three, two, one!”

“Expecto Patronum!” almost a hundred witches and wizards called out. The wave of golden light was magnificent. The Dementors froze for only a moment as the golden wave crashed into them then they fled. 

“Now,” Harry told Seamus. 

A second past and then another. 

Then as the inferi moved closer there was an explosion. Body parts went everywhere. Fire spread across the grounds. Ron led the Falcons down and behind the wandering corpses. The Falcons pushed the corpses into the fire. They flew towards the fire in sweeps so that they were never stagnant. 

One of the Hufflepuff beaters called out in fear. 

Ron spun around and pointed his wand at an inferius’ arm. “Colobos,” he hissed. The inferius didn’t react as its arm was cut off. Ron slashed with his wand and pushed the corpse into the fire. “You okay?” he asked. 

“Yeah, thanks.”

Ron gave a curt nod before taking off again. He sent his Patronus to Juliet. “Death Eaters are on their way,” the terrier said as it reached Juliet. 

“Everyone at the ready,” Juliet called out. The real battle was coming now. Everything else had just been to test them. “Ready Headmaster?” she asked. 

“As ready as I will get,” Dumbledore said with a sigh. 

“I know this isn’t fun, but we don’t have much choice. All we can do is make sure everyone on our side survives,” Juliet said. 

Dumbledore looked very old suddenly. He grunted and then he pulled himself together again. He would do this. He looked at the people around him. He would fight for everyone there. 

“Wands at the ready!” Juliet called. 

Then everything was quiet. 

Ron pulled his people back. 

Slowly, Voldemort and his Death Eaters left the forest. They reached the mote of fire and put it out as they crossed. 

Shields went up around the defenders. Juliet together with several other Mages focused on stopping Unforgivable Curses. 

Hermione and Harry started moving. They closed in on the Death Eaters from the sides. Ron dove down from the sky casting freely as he passed by the Death Eaters. Fred and George activated several of their dormant traps. Explosions and spell mines went off. 

“Angelina!” Fred called out as the Gryffindor chaser fell off her broom. 

“Let’s get Draco and his team in there,” Ron called. They went down again, but this time more people joined them as Draco brought in the Crows. Marcus Flint and Adrian Pierce grabbed Angelina and headed back for the castle. 

Harry felled one of the black-robed wizards, before moving on. Spells went flying. 

“Here you go Muncher asshole,” Sirius called out as he bombarded a Death Eater. 

Harry threw up a shield in front of his godfather as a slew of spells headed his way. 

“Snape you traitorous git!”

One of the Death Easters started heading their way. He was throwing spells towards Severus. The dour Potion Master switched his stance. He caught spells directly with the barest of shields, before returning fire. Suddenly, the Death Eater was ripped apart. Blood went everywhere. Severus walked up to him and ripped his mask off. “Rowel,” he spat. 

On the other side of the field, Hermione was fighting side by side with Mrs Weasley. 

“Oh, the wittle girl has a bite,” Bellatrix sassed Hermione. She grinned and then she turned to Mrs Weasley. “And how about the mother. Brought all of your little children here. They will scream sweetly.”

“Oh, quiet you evil hag!” Molly shouted. She pushed Bellatrix back with Hermione’s help. 

“Crucio,” Bellatrix screeched.

Molly collapsed in pain. While Bellatrix was focused on Molly, Hermione moved around she took a steadying breath, and then she pointed her wand at the insane witch. “Accio Bellatrix Lestrange’s heart,” she called. She almost threw up as the heart came flying towards her. She burned it as Bellatrix collapsed. 

Mrs Weasley coughed. “Thank you, dear,” she said as Hermione helped her up. 

“Are you alright to keep going?” Hermione asked. 

Mrs Weasley nodded. “I’m fine dear,” she said. “Now let’s take care of these horrible people.” She redied herself and the two kept going through the masses of dark-clad wizards and witches. 

“Tom, Tom, Tom,” Dumbledore said with a sigh. “You aren’t going to win.”

“You are a fool, old man,” Voldemort said. “I have fighters. You have children and their parents. You know nought of true battle. You’re not ready for the death that will follow.”

“If all you see here is children you are truly blind, Tom,” Dumbledore said. He threw up a wave of water and sent it towards Voldemort. The droplets turned to ice as they moved. Fire met the ice turning it to steam. The steam solidified and became a rain of sharp needles. Dumbledore swished his wand and spells went flying. 

Voldemort shielded himself and sent several colourful spells towards Dumbledore. A shield of ice took a Killing Curse. 

“It’s such a shame that you couldn’t see past your anger,” Dumbledore said. “It could have been so different.”

“Quit your senile hopes, old man,” Voldemort said. He sent a flurry of spells at Dumbledore. Ice caught some of them, but a few went through. In the corner of his eye, Dumbledorter could see how Juliet who had been aiding him was forced to focus on one of the Lestrange brothers. He was on his own now. He moved to the side just out of the way of a Killing Curse. Pain flared up in his side. He was bleeding heavily. He threw off spells and the grass around Voldemort’s legs turned into vines that grabbed at him. 

“Old fool. You die now,” Voldemort called as he threw a Cruciatus Curse at Dumbledore. He destroyed the vines around his legs before moving towards Dumbledore. With a victorious grin, he pointed his long ivory wand at the old man. “Avada Kedavra.” The green streak hit Dumbledore square in the chest. 

Voldemort laughed. “Dumbledore is dead. Give up or join him,” he called. “We will bring you down.”

Harry slashed his way through another Death Eater. He made it to Dumbledore’s body. “We will never give up,” he told Voldemort. He fired off an array of spells. 

Voldemort blocked them. “Silly child,” he spat. “I will take you down. You are nothing in comparison to him.” He pointed a finger at Dumbledore’s body. “He was the greatest in his time. I killed him. He was no challenge to me. You are nothing in comparison. A small child in over his head. I will crush you, boy.” He cast a Killing Curse at Harry who dodged. An irritated growl passed his nonexistent lips.

Harry raised his wand. “It might not be as easy as you think,” he said. He was buying time. In the distance, he could see how Juliet and one of the Alphas moved up behind Voldemort. They would help him. He knew that. He raised his wand and threw off a blasting curse at the ground by Voldemort’s feet followed by several minor cutting curses. 

Voldemort responded with unforgivable curses and other rather nasty spells. Harry either shielded or dodged depending on the spell. He fired off a heavy confusion and a bone-breaking curse. He screamed out as a burning sensation spread across his abdomen. He was breathing heavily. 

“Tired Potter?” Voldemort asked. “This looks familiar. I believe Albus found himself in the same predicament.”

“He might have been here,” Harry said. “But I’m quite a lot younger.” he spun around and kicked out Voldemort’s legs. He jumped back as Voldemort got back up. Several spells were sent his way and he dodged them. “Look around you. Where are your Death Eaters?” he asked. 

“I have no need for weaklings,” Voldemort sneered.”If they have fallen they were useless.”

“Well,” Harry said. “Unlike you, I don’t stand alone.”

“I am the Dark Lord! I will stand victorious! I am the most powerful Wizard this world has ever…”

Ice spears had shot up out of the ground. Harry shifted and sent a full-body bind at the Dark Lord. Then the Alpha walked forward. He pulled a giant sword and aligned it. 

“Sometimes you have to see the bigger picture,” Juliet said. “You were full of yourself. Thank you for that. Juto, are you certain?”

The man next to Juliet nodded. “I will take this,” he said. He swung the sword and chopped Voldemort’s head off. 

Harry breathed out. He looked around the grounds. A few fights were still going, but the sharks were losing. He could see Hermione and Mrs Weasley taking down a Death Eater. Remus had walked closer to the forest and was speaking with Argo. “Where is Ron?” he asked. 

Juliet looked around. “He might be inside. I haven’t seen him in a while, but his team knew what to do if something happened,” she said. “Why don’t you head inside and get yourself looked at?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I could use some healing,” he said. He headed inside slowly. His side hurt. Breathing felt like fire. He pulled a deep breath as he entered the Great Hall. “We have won. Voldemort is dead!” he called out. That at least he could give them. He sat down heavily as Jonathan came over and gave him a quick scan. “At least you’re no worse for wear. Just sit still for a moment.” He walked off a bit and shouted. 

Only moments later Malfoy came over with a salve. "Shirt off Potter," he said. 

"Oh, my so demanding," Harry said with a sly smirk. "Anything else you want off, huh?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Just the shirt for now," he said. 

Harry chuckled, wincing as he did so. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it off. He raised an eyebrow at the look Draco gave him. "Like what you see?" he asked with a wink. 

Draco sighed. "I guess I didn’t expect you to be this buff is all," he said as he opened a jar and started spreading its contents over Harry's side. "You'll heal quick enough. You should see Ron." 

"So, he is in here?" Harry asked. 

Draco nodded. "Took a nasty curse to his throat, but they got him stable and mother is with him now. The Healers can't do anything else for him right now so they just needed someone to keep an eye on him," he said. 

Juliet walked into the hall. She had put some of her people on dealing with the captives outside. The MD would hold trials. For those that deserved prison time, there was a prison held by the UNMD somewhere. Not even Juliet knew exactly where. She had a person that did, but she as the leader of a team wasn't privy to the information. "Jonathan report," she said. 

"About a dozen dead," Jonathan said. "And thirty badly injured and many more with lesser injuries." He looked her over. "Including yourself," he said. He scanned her and cast several healing spells at her. "That will have to do for now. Have Malfoy give you a potion too just in case. I have to get back to work." He left to take care of a witch who had lost an arm. She was stable but her condition was still critical. 

Juliet walked over to Harry and Draco. She was handed a potion. She drank it and sighed. "Now comes the bad part," she said softly. "This is one of those things that deter people from leadership roles."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. 

"I have to identify the dead so I can inform their families," Juliet said. 

Harry rose with a groan. "I'll come with you," he said. "I know some people better than you do." 

"Thank you, Harry," Juliet said with a sad smile. 

The two of them headed towards the back of the hall where the Healers had placed the dead. The bodies were covered. Juliet kneeled by each one of them taking note of who they were. Sonja lay there and Rita, Nate's mother, was there. 

"That's Ernie MacMillan," Harry said. "He was in Hufflepuff and Jessica Parker, she was a Ravenclaw." 

There were a bunch more of Juliet's people and a couple of Aurors and then… "That's Ron's dad," Harry said sadly. Arthur had a deep cut going from shoulder to hip. That was going to be devastating for the family. 

Dumbledore also lay there and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Alastor Moody lay only a few feet away. 

Harry found Cho Chang and Oliver Wood among the dead. 

They had lost a lot of good people. 

Harry walked next to Juliet as they moved back through the hall. 

Hermione entered the Hall together with Mrs Weasley. Harry looked at Juliet. Was she going to tell her now? 

"My family," Molly said. "Do you know where they are?" 

"Fred and George are helping my people sort out Death Eaters outside," Juliet said. "Ronald is over there. Celestine says he's stable and should wake up by morning." She took a deep breath. "I am sad to inform you that your husband Arthur fell during the battle. His body will be released to you when you wish until then we keep it in stasis." 

Molly breathed in slowly. She wasn't sure what to do. Arthur was gone. "Where is Ron?" she asked. "And have you seen Bill or Percy? 

"I have not, but I will send them to you if I find them," Juliet said. 

"I'll take you to Ron," Harry said. He took Mrs Weasley's hand and led her over to his fallen friend. 

"I'm sorry for your loss," Lady Malfoy said as they sat down. "Arthur was a good man." 

Molly almost responded with something mean, but she thought better of it. Narcissa had never done anything to her family. "Thank you," she said quietly instead. She reached out and took Ron's hand in hers. Her brave boy. Silently tears started falling down her face. A warm hand squeezed her shoulder. 

A handkerchief was offered to her. 

In the background, the healers and their assistants were moving around quietly. 

Bill, Percy, Fred and George joined their mother eventually. They all sat there around Ron. 

Most of them were crying. 

Juliet headed up to the Gryffindor dorm and fetched Ginny. It wasn't fair that she wouldn't learn of her father's passing. Ginny wasn't the only one she had gone to gather. Every student that had lost someone was brought down. The injured were slowly moved. 

"I'll stay with him," Narcissa said as the healers came to move Ron. 

"Thank you," Molly said. 

Bill was holding his mother. Ginny had collapsed in Fred's lap. She was crying and swearing. She blamed Ron even though that was in no way fair. She cursed the Death Eaters. 

Harry slowly moved away from the grieving family. He was dead tired. Someone grabbed hold of him and guided him into a shower and then a warm bed. He didn’t reflect on who helped him. 

The following morning dawned grey and gloomy. Green eyes opened slowly. Harry groaned as he rolled over. His eyes narrowed as he realised that he wasn't alone in the bed. A warm body pressed against his. He turned around and moved back. A dark eyebrow rose. "Did you want company?" he asked somewhat amused. 

"You could barely stand," the muffled voice of Draco Malfoy responded. 

"And that is reason for us to share a bed?” Harry asked.

“You grabbed onto me,” Draco defended himself. “What was I supposed to do?”

Harry chuckled. He rolled out of bed and stretched. “I wonder where Hermione went last night,” he mused.

“Her sister made sure she got to bed,” Draco said. He climbed out of bed after Harry and ran his hand along Harry’s spine. “You sure you don’t want to have some fun before heading out?” he asked.

Harry turned slightly. He looked Draco up and down. “Are you serious,” he asked. His voice and tone had changed drastically. 

Draco nodded and Harry smirked. 

...

Ron woke up. His eyes hurt. The room was bright. He blinked several times. 

“Good morning Ron.”

Ron focused on the voice. “Juliet,” he croaked.

“Yes, Ron I’m here,” Juliet said. 

“What happened to Cho?” Ron asked. 

Juliet smiled sadly. “She didn’t make it,” she said. 

Ron sighed. Damn it. He had seen her go down. He had gone after her, but something must have happened. He couldn’t remember hitting the ground. He’d lost focus and missed something. 

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. We all lost people. Sonja is gone and…” Juliet paused. “Your father didn’t make it.”

It took a few seconds for Ron to realise what Juliet had said. Sonja was dead. One of their Masters that was a blow to him. His father… His father was gone. No more quirky muggle experiments. No more strange surprises. He buried his face in his hands. Slowly his shoulders started shaking. Juliet moved over to the bed and wrapped an arm around her student. 

Jonathan walked into the infirmary. He headed straight for them. He checked Ron over. “He’s doing alright,” he told Juliet. “There are a few potions I want him to take. I’ll leave them here. There are still others that need my attention. Father brought in a few of his pack.”

“I’ll take care of Ron,” Juliet said. “You take care of the others.”

Jonathan nodded before hurrying off. 

It took a few more minutes before Ron calmed down enough to take his potions. He had cried himself dry. There was an emptiness inside him that he didn’t know what to do with. He barely recognised that Juliet was right there next to him. He didn’t react when Harry and Hermione showed up. 

“Is he going to be alright?” Harry asked Juliet concerned. 

“It will take time, but he should pull through,” Juliet said. “I’ve seen this before. It isn’t as bad as it seems. At least as long as it doesn’t go on for too long. All we can do is be available, and he shouldn’t live alone. I’ll probably bring him back to the Villa.”

“That might be good,” Hermione said. She didn’t feel too great either. She kept seeing blood on her hands even though she knew they were clean. Maybe Juliet knew a shrink. 

The funerals were held in the following days. Some choose to bring their dead with them to family burial grounds others appreciated the offer to bury their dead in the hero graves setup on Hogwarts' grounds. 

Arthur, Dumbledore, Sonja, Alastor and Kingsley were all buried there. Sonja's little brother Desmond approached Juliet after his sister's funeral. He had wanted to join the Betas before now, and he hadn't changed his mind. 

Just like Juliet had said, she brought Ron with her back to the Villa. Percy moved back with his mother to keep her company. They didn’t want her to be alone. It surprised everyone that Percy took that fall. 


	5. Anniversary

“Moma hop hop. Moma, ‘Oseff go hop wiv ‘Awy.”

“Yes Joseph we will go play with Harry,” Juliet answered her two-year-old son. She lifted her boy up and walked over to the fireplace so they could floo. 

“Heya Joseff buddy,” Harry said as they arrived. He looked up at Juliet. “You staying for a bit or…?” It was Juliet and Sirius’ anniversary, and he had promised to look after Joseph while they went to dinner and just had some alone time. 

“A little while,” Juliet said. “Sirius wanted to prepare something and he didn’t want me to know what it was.”

Harry chuckled. “Maybe you could start running now,” he said. 

Juliet laughed. 

They headed outside and over to a nearby park. 

“Hop hop,” Joseph said. 

“No buddy it’s a swing. It only goes hop when Sirius gives you too much speed,” Harry said. He put Joseph in a swing and pulled at it. As he let go Joseph squealed in happiness. 

“How is work going?” Juliet asked. 

Harry shrugged. “We have a lot to do, but I don’t mind,” he said. “People want their properties protected. Boss says that business has gone up drastically in the past couple of years.”

Juliet nodded slowly. “People are more worried than they used to,” she said. “I can’t blame them. With the stuff, we are working on right now protecting their properties might not be enough.”

“At least it is something and as long as they hire us they get exactly what they pay for. I’m worried about these half shady people that try to offer the same service, but definitely doesn’t have the experience needed to place the protections they promise,” Harry said. 

“We can’t do anything about that. We need the ministry to check on those things,” Juliet said. 

“I’ll mention it to Draco. Maybe his father can do something about it,” Harry said. 

“You still on and off?” Juliet asked. 

Harry shook his head. "We stopped that a while ago. It wasn't healthy for either of us besides he’s getting married. He has to continue the family name after all,” he said with a shrug. “It wasn’t like we counted on being a couple. He has been courting Astoria for almost a year now,” he said. 

“‘igher. ‘igher,” Joseph called. 

Harry focused his attention back on his godson. “Dora and Teddy are coming over later,” he said casually.

“That’s nice,” Juliet said. 

“Teddy. Teddy. Teddy,” Joseph chanted. He really liked his cousin. They didn’t bother adding the extra steps. It was more complicated than it was worth. 

Juliet checked her watch. “I should get going.” She smiled at Joseph. “I’m going now. Harry will take care of you until tomorrow. Have fun. I love you. Bye-bye.” She waved at Joseph who waved back. “Bye-bye momma,” he said. 

Juliet headed back to Harry’s apartment and took the floo back home. 

Harry and Joseff played on the swings until Dora and Teddy arrived. Then they moved over to the sandbox so the boys could play together. Remus was off with Argo’s pack. The full moon was that night. 

The boys played until they collapsed from exhaustion.

“You can stay here tonight,” Harry said. “It’s better than trying to take him home now.”

Dora nodded. “Thank you, Harry,” she said. He prepped for her in the guest room, and they went to bed. 

… 

"Uncle Hawy, can I wash a movie?" Teddy asked the following morning. 

"Sure, what do you want to watch?" Harry responded. It was early and he knew Dora wasn't a morning person. Teddy and Joseph could spend a bit of time in front of the TV. It would give him some time to get ready for the day. 

"Wobin Hood," Teddy said. 

Harry got the movie started and made sure the boys were comfortable before heading off to take a shower. As he entered the kitchen afterwards to get some coffee going for Dora, the doorbell rang. He walked over to the door and opened it. "Katie?" he said somewhat surprised. She was carrying quite a lot of stuff. "Can I crash here for a bit?" she asked. 

Harry moved aside and let her inside. "I have Dora, Teddy and Joseff here right now, but Dora and Teddy are going to head to Andromeda's place later and Sirius or Juliet will come and pick up Joseff sometime after lunch. Their anniversary was yesterday," he said. 

Katie breathed out in relief. "Thank you," she said. 

"Trouble with… What's his name? Robert?" Harry asked. 

Katie huffed. "Bastard's been cheating on me," she growled. She sat down by the kitchen table. 

"Coffee?" Harry asked. 

"Yes please," Katie said. He served up a cup and sat down next to her. "So what are you planning now?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Katie said with a sigh. "I think I'd like to leave Britain for a bit. Get some fresh air elsewhere."

"You could always check with Juliet. If nothing else she has the contacts," Harry said. 

Katie nodded slowly. "We'll see," she said and then she paused for a moment. "Either way I'll be out of your hair in a few days," she said after a while. 

"Katie what are you doing here at this time?" a drowsy Nymphadora Lupin asked as she entered the kitchen. Harry poured her a cup of coffee and she sat down. "I thought you and Harry were over." 

"That doesn't mean we quit being friends," Harry said, and Katie explained why she was there. 

"Oh, I see," Dora said. She sipped her coffee slowly. 

The three adults sat quietly around the table for a while. Harry looked into the living room. Joseph had fallen asleep in Teddy's lap. He smiled. He was glad that they got along as well as they did despite the age difference. 

Dora yawned and stood up. She wandered into the living room and kissed Teddy's hair. "Movie over soon dear?" she asked. 

"Soon," Teddy said. 

"Good, we need to go home so mommy can get cleaned up. Grandpa and Granny are expecting us for lunch," Dora said. 

"Okay mommy," Teddy said. 

Dora returned to the kitchen. She rinsed her coffee cup and placed it on the counter. "Remus said he would stick around the camp for a few days extra this time. Something about children being bitten again. Seems there is another Fenrir Grayback out there," she informed Harry. 

"That's no good," Harry said. "I hope the Alphas find the culprit quickly this time." 

"Me too," Dora said. 

"Uncle Hawy can you take Joseff?" Teddy called from the living room. 

"Coming," Harry said before heading in there. Joseph woke up when he lifted him and he sat on Harry's hip as he came back into the kitchen. 

Dora and Teddy said their goodbyes before heading home. 

Katie smiled softly as Harry sat down by the table with Joseph. He was so fantastic with his godsons. Sometimes she wished it had worked out between them just because she was convinced he'd make a great father. Then she remembered all the lonely nights. Harry was the kind of person who got absorbed in his job. She had spent week after week alone when they had been together just because he had been called out of the country to apply wards somewhere. He was really bad at sending messages, but he would always try to make up for it when he got back. She sighed. His godsons came first though. If the Blacks or Lupins needed help he would help them no matter what his plans had been beforehand. Juliet had caught on to that rather quickly, though, so it hadn't really been an issue. It just hadn't been what she had wanted. 

An hour and a half later Juliet showed up to pick up Joseph. She spent a bit of time with Katie talking about different possibilities for work. She needed to know what Katie was after before she could have a look around. It took her a couple of days but she found a job as the assistant to a Transfiguration Master who needed help. Katie had always really enjoyed Transfiguration so she was happy to take the job. The best part was that the Master lived on Crete. 

True to her word Katie left Harry's apartment only four days after getting there. Not that Harry noticed. He had left for Vancouver, Canada a few days prior. They wanted extra protection on some important building over there and had demanded the best. Harry didn't get back to Britain for weeks. 

… 

"I was almost worried you weren't going to make it," Harry said as he rose from the café table he had been sitting by. He hugged Hermione before they sat back down. 

"I wouldn't miss the anniversary," Hermione said. She smiled. It had been seven years. Seven years since Harry had been kidnapped from his Aunt and Uncle's house by her sister. Leaving had changed so much for the better. 

"Shame Ron couldn't come," Harry said. 

"It is a bit hard to just leave an undercover job to go have tea with your old pals," Hermione pointed out. "At least Juliet says he is alright." 

"I miss him," Harry said. 

"Me too."

"Who would have thought that he would go on to do undercover work." 

"Remember Mrs Weasley's reaction?" 

Harry nodded. That had been an eventful day. To say Molly had been displeased would be an understatement. She had been livid, but Ron hadn't budged. He was going to work for Juliet and that was it. 

"At least his boss cares about him," Harry said. 

"She'd move an ocean to save him if he ever ended up in trouble," Hermione said. "Though I would prefer it if she didn't right now." 

"Pregnant again?" Harry asked. He knew the couple had been talking of getting another kid. Sirius always looked a little wild-eyed when he brought it up. 

Hermione nodded. "Not that it will stop her if she feels she has to intervene," she said. She leaned back in her chair. "Are you off again soon or will you be staying around home for a while? " she asked. 

"I'll stick around," Harry said. "Draco wants his best man to help with his side of the wedding plans." 

"Isn't that a little inappropriate?" Hermione asked. 

Harry grimaced. "Maybe, but then again she is well aware of our previous relationship. She knows why it ended too, and we aren't all that interested in starting it up again," he said. "It wasn't healthy." 

"I'm glad you both realized that," Hermione said. 

Harry chuckled. "Yeah the fights we had were bad," he said. "I still have scars." 

Hermione shook her head. She remembered one time when Harry had shown up at her place after one of those fights. His entire back was full of rips. It had looked gruesome. That the two of them could stay friends was beyond her. Then again they had both received help from mind-healers after they broke up. 

They hadn't been the only ones that had needed help from mind-healers. She had needed it too. It had taken years for her to work through her emotions in regards to Bellatrix and how she had killed her. Meeting Dora's mother hadn't made that any easier. At a quick glance, the two women had been identical. Now Hermione didn't see that at all anymore. The sisters were so different. She sighed. She was glad it was all over. She was glad they could all live normal lives. Thanks to how Juliet had handled things there were no heroes. The only ones who were spoken of as such were the ones who had died in the battle. 

"So you are going to help Draco plan his wedding?" Hermione asked after a moment of silence. 

"With what little he is allowed to put his nose in," Harry said. "Mostly I'm just moral support so he doesn't get cold feet." 

Hermione rolled her eyes. That sounded like it was going to end up a disaster. She hoped they didn't mess up too badly. 

… 

Juliet chuckled as she lifted little Victorie off the floor. Bill and Fleur were celebrating their anniversary and Molly was taking care of their girls. Juliet had come over with Joseff just so that he and Victorie could play. 

Percy was at work and Penelope, his wife, was eight months pregnant. Juliet had figured that another set of hands couldn't hurt. Molly had recovered fairly well after Arthur's death. She wasn't as sad anymore, but it was clear to anyone with eyes that she missed her husband. Percy had done a solid and moved in with her into the newly built house that Juliet had replaced the destroyed Burrow with. He had gotten her through the worst of it and then as she got a little better he had started dating his Hogwarts sweetheart Penelope again. They had married and she had moved in two years prior. Percy had given up his career to save his mother. Not that he had a bad job. With the contacts he had, he actually made quite a fair amount of money in his current position. 

Suddenly as Joseph and Victorie played a phone rang. Juliet pulled up a mobile phone from a pocket and answered. Her face turned grim as she spoke to the person on the other end. "Can I leave Joseph here?" she asked. "Something has come up. They need me back at base." 

"Is it Ronald?" Molly asked worriedly. 

Juliet's face turned grim. "It could be," she said. "I didn't get enough details to tell for certain. I'll call Hermione. She'll pick Joseph up later." She didn't stay to answer any more questions. Whatever was going on, she was needed. 

"Report!" was the first order out of her mouth as she arrived at the Villa. Several different people started talking at once. "Jonathan give me the highlights," she demanded. He was the one who had called her. He most likely understood the situation better than the rest of them. It irritated her that most of her best were out in the field. 

"Lark went dark a few hours ago. We can't locate him. The Alphas have lost contact with their informant. I have asked Zephie to get back to me as soon as possible," Jonathan said. 

Juliet's eyes closed. "Do we have anything to go on?" she asked. 

Jonathan shook his head. His phone pinged and he checked it. "Informant is fine," he said. His eyebrows narrowed. "They feel something isn't right. They are going to question under serum." 

The room was quiet. If the Alpha informant had sold out their inside man they needed to act immediately. 

"Red alert we need to get Lark now," Jonathan said suddenly and he activated the alarm. The whole Villa readied. Juliet got the floor plans of every building Ron might be in. She discarded some and directed agents to others. Something wasn't adding up though. She went through the latest information Ron had sent her again. Suddenly, she swore loudly. They had missed an entire part of the organization. She got up and ran downstairs. Jonathan had called people back from other missions and Melonni had just arrived. "Melonni with me," Juliet said sharply as she got downstairs. "Brown, Delacour follow us." A team of four would be enough, and she only wanted women. She gave Melonni the coordinates and a port-key was set. Within seconds they were gone. 

They landed in a rather nice neighbourhood. The houses had large gardens that were well kept. Juliet located the house they were going for. "Brown, get in contact with local law…" she said and then she added, "no-mag." She directed the rest of them and quietly they got into the house. At first, it looked like any other house owned by a well to do family except it was too clean. Nothing was the least bit out of place. Either a neat freak lived there or there was something fishy going on. The latter was found true when they gained access to the basement. In a chair in the middle of the first room sat Ron. He looked like shit. Burn marks covered his chest and he was missing pieces of his fingers. 

Gabrielle rushed forward and started healing what she could. "I'm going to need help," she said. 

"I'll get a hold of Jonathan," Melonni said. 

Juliet moved around the room carefully. They hadn't met anyone, but someone must have been in the room only moments before they got down there. She froze a lock and pulled it open. The stench that hit her was horrible. The sound of cars pulling in could be heard from above. 

"Gabrielle stop," Juliet ordered. 

The younger girl put her wand away. She hated it when they involved no-mag law. Even if she could understand why they did it. Juliet took command as the cops joined them. She was used to the routine, and she was the only one of them that spoke Polish. She identified herself and while they checked that up she pointed them towards the doors leading out of the room. One of the younger cops had to walk back out so he wouldn't puke on the crime scene. Several dead women lay in one of the rooms. In another was a mix between living and dead. Medics were called upon and the entire property searched. 

Juliet sighed. It was going to take days to get this sorted out. Her priority was getting Ron back into their care so he could be healed properly. That took her several hours. Eventually, she could send Gabrielle and Lavender back to Britain with him as long as they got a statement from him when he was better. 

It took another day and a half for Melonni and Juliet to make it back. 

Harry and Hermione got word as soon as Ron was stable. The two of them headed to the Villa as quickly as they could. 

"You look like shit mate," Harry said as he sat down by Ron's bedside. 

"I thought you liked that," Ron said jokingly. 

Harry rolled his eyes. "I hope you're done with these hero antics now," he said. 

Ron chuckled and grimaced from the pain in his chest. "Juliet wants me to split her job with her," he said. "With her children, she can't be as much of a field marshal as she would like to. I'm seriously considering it." 

"You should," Hermione said as she sat down. "Because you're not doing this again. I just spoke to Juliet. Oh, and you need to speak to the Polish Police as soon as you are well enough." 

Ron sighed. He wasn't too keen on speaking to the cops. They never got anything done. He'd do what had to be done just to get the bastards he had been working for in jail. The top dogs were magical. At least they could get them without the legal system fucking them over. 

"Out," Gabrielle ordered as she entered the room. "He needs to rest." 

"Will do," Harry answered as he rose. He and Hermione headed out of the room. At least Ron was back now even if they would have preferred if he hadn't gotten injured. 

In the next few days, Ron had a lot of visitors. His brothers and his mother. Everyone was glad to hear that he was staying. Even if Molly might have preferred that he left Juliet's employment entirely. She knew better than to try to convince him though. Last time she had done that he had gone undercover. 

Things were starting to look up. Penelope delivered a healthy baby girl by the end of the month. 

In October Juliet gave birth to little Lana. 

Hermione had gotten back in contact with a quidditch-tired Viktor Krum and they had been exchanging letters for a while, building plans for a life together. 

Harry eventually settled down with a nice woman he'd met through work, and Ron never actually settled down. He was married to his job just like Charlie. He was the one who eventually went on to take over the Alpha squad while Teddy Lupin grabbed the Betas. 

Things were looking much better now that magical Britain had caught up with the rest of the world. 


End file.
